The overlap that causes friction
The most common failure on board is not ignorance of one's own duties — it is assuming the other role will cover a gap, or stepping into the other role's territory without agreement. When a guest reports that the saloon television has no signal, both officers may wait for the other to respond, or both respond and contradict each other. Getting the boundary clear before problems arise is the practical purpose of this lesson.
Core responsibilities by role
ETO — electrical plant, navigation systems, and communications systems. This covers switchboards, UPS, navigation sensors and displays, GMDSS equipment, and the safety-critical infrastructure those systems depend on.
AV/IT officer — entertainment and passenger-facing systems, structured data networks, and cybersecurity. This includes audio-visual distribution, satellite TV, streaming, guest Wi-Fi, and the policies and controls that protect the vessel's networks from external threats.
The boundary is broadly: safety-critical and flag-state-regulated systems belong to the ETO; guest experience and data systems belong to AV/IT. In practice, both roles share the same physical network infrastructure, which is where coordination matters most.
Where the roles touch
Neither officer works in isolation. A VSAT terminal is owned by the ETO at the RF and power level; the IP traffic it carries is managed by AV/IT. A server-room UPS is maintained by the ETO; the servers it protects are the AV/IT officer's responsibility. Cybersecurity is formally an AV/IT domain, but a threat that reaches navigation or communications systems immediately becomes an ETO concern. Clear handover agreements and a shared network diagram prevent either officer from being blindsided.
Smaller yachts: combined roles
On yachts in the 50–60 m range, separate headcount for both positions is not always practical. Engineers on these vessels may be expected to hold electrical or AV/IT skills, and some ETOs carry a dual AV/IT role. Where one person covers both, the same mental separation of duties still applies — knowing which hat you are wearing when you make a decision avoids cutting corners on safety-critical work in order to fix a guest Wi-Fi problem.
Towards a defined standard
STCW Table A-III/6 includes the competence to operate computers and computer networks on ships, giving the ETO's network involvement a regulatory footing. For AV/IT specifically, MYBA, PYA, IAMI, and SYBAss developed a draft AV/IT training standard that was launched for industry consultation in October 2022. Whether a formal standard has since been adopted should be confirmed with current industry sources.