• Alarm signal for mustering (the general emergency alarm, 7 short blasts and 1 prolonged blast) and how it is used.
• Action to be taken on hearing alarms, and the position to which each person reports.
• Method of lowering survival craft and rescue boats.
• Abandon ship procedure and the assembly/muster stations.
• Rescue tasks for specific persons (e.g. in water, man overboard).
• Order to muster at the lifeboat stations and the duties of each member in the survival craft.
• Assignment of crew to fire and water emergencies (fire parties, damage control, etc.).
• Duties assigned to persons concerning the operation of radio gear, signalling apparatus, essential equipment for survival, and muster of passengers (on passenger ships).
• Communication methods between the bridge and crew/lifeboats.
• The list should show ranks and names of the crew and their emergency stations, and must be posted in conspicuous places (e.g. mess rooms, recreation rooms, near muster stations).

The training manual should be provided in each mess room and recreation room and cover:

• Abandon ship procedures, survival craft and rescue boat operation.
• Donning of lifejackets and immersion suits.
• Launching and recovery of survival craft, including falls and hooks.
• Use of radios, EPIRBs, SARTs and distress signals.
• Inflatable life raft operation including inflating, boarding and packing.
• Survival at sea (cold-water survival, hypothermia, water/food rationing, use of sea anchor/drogue).
• Firefighting basics, use of extinguishers and personal protection.
• Helicopter rescue procedures.
• Use of water to either flood a survival craft or deal with a casualty (on some designs).
• Actions in case of engine spaces or accommodation fire, and in case of collision/grounding, and rendering medical first aid.

• Weekly: inspect all survival craft, rescue boats and launching appliances visually; check the survival craft and rescue boat are ready for use; check engines (start and run ahead and astern) and that lifeboat equipment is complete; check general emergency alarm.
• Monthly: inspect survival craft covering all items in the maintenance schedule, including lifejackets and personal equipment; check visibility of navigation lights and correct state of the emergency light batteries.
• Three-monthly/as required: renew air supply to air receivers, replenish life-raft yearly service items, test EPIRB (monthly test and annual), check hydrostatic release units, test SART.
• Annually: have all life rafts, rescue boats and survival craft and launching appliances serviced by approved service stations; service lifeboat falls with approved materials; metrological test of fall wires (periodic renewal at intervals set by the Administration, e.g. every 5 years for lifeboat wire falls).
• 5-yearly: renew fall wires.
• Hydraulic pressure/load test of davits at intervals set by the Administration.
• Log all maintenance and drills in the record of inspections and maintenance as required by the Administration.

• Every passenger ship must have embarkation ladders and muster stations for passengers to assemble.
• Mustering should be arranged so that passengers can be assembled in the muster stations in a controlled manner with adequate lighting.
• The muster station must be accessible and provide a clear path to survival craft embarkation positions.
• A public address system must inform passengers of the emergency and instruct them to proceed to the muster station.
• Passenger muster stations must be located at or above the bulkhead deck or as approved, with sufficient lighting, and protected from weather as necessary.
• The 2-watch (watchmen) system, registrations and roll call are arranged during mustering.
• On passenger ships the emergency plan shows appropriate assembly stations, and the drills must demonstrate passenger mustering.

• Boat drill shall be carried out weekly if practicable, and at least monthly on every ship. Fire drills shall be carried out at least monthly and within 24 hours of leaving a port if more than 25% of the crew have not participated in a fire/abandon-ship drill on that voyage.
• In ports where a polluting incident occurs or the ship is not at sea, drills should be conducted within 24 hours.
• The general emergency alarm signal should be given and the drill should be practised: mustering crew at their stations, testing of the alarm, launching/inspection of survival craft (at statutory intervals craft are lowered into the water), trial of lifeboat engines, and operation of fire extinguishing systems (e.g. pumping fire main, testing of starting of fire pumps).
• After every drill, the date, time, location, number of participants, any deficiencies found and corrective action are recorded in a log/Certified log book.
• Drills should be realistic, held in a variety of conditions, and the ship's staff assessed, with a debrief to reinforce learning.
• The drill exercises should include donning of immersion suits and lifejackets at intervals.