firefighting systems Viking Safety Academy offers free

COVID-19 awareness and prevention

VIKING SAFETY ACADEMY OFFERS FREE SAFETY COURSE

DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK, WORK ONBOARD VESSELS AND ON SHIPYARDS HAS LARGELY CONTINUED. TO ENSURE THE SAFETY of SEAFARERS and maritime industry personnel, Viking Safety Academy has provided a free, online awareness and prevention course.

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF VIKING SAFETY ACADEMY.

It began as an in-house information package for Viking personnel, but has now become a popular online training course for everyone working in shipbuilding and seafaring. Viking Safety Academy has released a free COVID-19 awareness and prevention course. “It started with a couple of instructors at our training centre in Greece who felt we needed something for our technicians”, explains Alex Kristensen, Director of Viking Safety Academy. “We gave them some guidelines on how to behave and what to do on board and started our own in-house course. However, our online web portal can make this available to a much wider audience, so why not share it?” Viking set out to compile the most important information available from the World Health Organisation and the International Maritime Organisation. “We are not the authors of the content; it was all compiled from reliable sources and verified by independent experts”, adds Mr Kristensen.

Protective measures The course takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and consists of two sections. The first relates to awareness and prevention and offers general information about the coronavirus and basic protective measures. This includes tips on personal hygiene and how to recognise the symptoms of the coronavirus. The second part of the course covers topics dedicated to the shipping industry and protective measures on board. It provides links to the various circulars from the IMO that provide guidelines for the implementation of measures to protect health. There is advice on disinfecting public areas and the maintenance and cleaning of PPE. Other tips cover best practice on health, such as monitoring body temperature and associated record-keeping, regular ventilation of the vessel and compartments, and how to manage suspected or confirmed coronavirus cases on board. This part of the course advises on

Alex Kristensen, Director of Viking Safety Academy. Viking Safety Academy has provided a free online COVID-19 awareness and prevention course.

The online course for seafarers and maritime industry personnel offers information and practical tips on how to work safely during the corona outbreak.

safe practices during docking, such as providing dedicated areas for people coming on board. Each vessel should have an outbreak management plan that includes locations where suspected cases will be isolated, onboard clinical management, communication plans, and the disembarkation emergency procedure for a suspected case.

Mental health The course concludes with a video from the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network (ISWAN) in which counselling psychologists Dr Kate Thompson answers concerns from seafarers and offers guidance and information on managing the mental health of seafarers during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provides information about ISWAN’s SeafarerHelp, a free and confidential multi-lingual helpline for seafarers and their families that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. “COVID-19 has made the change and repatriation for seafarers difficult or in many cases even impossible. Most ships have been forced to suspend crew changes”, comments Mr Kristensen. “We felt it was important to include a section on mental health.”

Positive reception The course has been available since the last week of April and the initial response has been very positive, states Mr Kristensen. “We posted the news on Facebook and we had reached more than 200,000 people in a matter of days. We thought we had some good information and we wanted to share it with the world.”

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Online STCW training

Viking Safety Academy has also developed an online course that has been made available through Estonia’s Reval Safety Training to offer STCW refresher training on an e-learning basis for Estonian seafarers. Once the seafarers have completed the e-learning course, either onboard or at home, they are given a provisional, six-month STCW certificate extension. Should conditions allow, seafarers can visit a Reval Safety Training centre during the six-month period for classroom/practical training and secure their five-year Certificate of Proficiency. The STCW certificates extension based on e-learning is currently only available to Estonian residents. The course could however be extended to other flag states and Viking is actively looking to partner with more training providers.