Where this sits
Governing: ISPS Code Part A sections 10 and 13, Part B 13.6 and 13.7; Regulation (EC) 725/2004, Article 3 (UK). Builds on: Module 2.
Drills and exercises
ISPS Part B gives the frequencies. In the UK, Regulation (EC) 725/2004 (retained in UK law) makes these Part B paragraphs apply as if mandatory.
| Frequency | Source | |
|---|---|---|
| Security drill | At least once every three months | ISPS B/13.6 |
| Extra drill | Within one week if more than 25% of personnel are changed with people who have not taken part in a drill on that ship in the last three months | ISPS B/13.6 |
| Security exercise | At least once each calendar year, no more than 18 months apart | ISPS B/13.7 |
Worked check: a yacht with 40 crew takes on 11 new crew who have not drilled aboard. 11 / 40 = 27.5%, which is above 25%, so a drill is due within a week. With 10 new crew it would be exactly 25%, which is not more than 25%.
Drills test individual parts of the plan: a suspicious item found, an intruder at the swim platform, a stowaway search, a response to a level change. Exercises are bigger: they may involve the CSO, port facility or authorities, and can be live, tabletop or combined with other exercises.
TIP: Drill what you actually fear On yachts, good drills include an unauthorised person on the aft deck at night, a suspicious bag at a crew party ashore, a drone over the sundeck, and a protester boat alongside.
Communications
Security depends on the message getting through:
- internal: radio call signs, a security code word, check-in schedules for patrols, and a clear chain of report: watch, duty officer, SSO, master;
- with the port facility: through the SSO and PFSO, including any Declaration of Security;
- with the company: SSO to CSO, 24 hours a day;
- with authorities: police, port security, coastguard; in its area, UKMTO;
- covert: the SSAS.
When you report, use who, what, where, when, and what you have done.
Records
ISPS Part A requires records to be kept on board of:
- training, drills and exercises;
- security threats and incidents;
- breaches of security;
- changes in security level;
- communications relating to the direct security of the ship, such as specific threats;
- internal audits and reviews of security activities;
- periodic review of the ship security assessment and plan;
- implementation of amendments to the plan;
- maintenance, calibration and testing of security equipment, including the SSAS.
Records are kept in the working language of the ship (with an English, French or Spanish version if that is not one of them), protected from unauthorised access, and kept for a period set by the Administration. A secondary source reports three years on board for UK ships; confirm with the SSO.
Your records
As a crew member with designated duties you will keep:
- gangway and visitor logs;
- search records;
- round and patrol logs;
- equipment check entries;
- incident notes, written at the time.
WARNING: If it is not written, it did not happen At audit or after an incident, the records are the evidence. Fill them in honestly and at the time. A log written up from memory at the end of the week is worth little.