On a ship with a periodically unmanned engine room, the duty engineer is responsible for making machinery space rounds when the engine room is unattended. Between machinery space rounds, what is the responsibility of the duty engineer?

Correct Answer: Option B — The duty engineer is on call and should be prepared to acknowledge and respond to any machinery space alarms by remaining in range of the remote alarm stations in his or her cabin or the various public spaces.

Under UMS (Unattended Machinery Space) requirements, the duty engineer must remain reachable and prepared to respond immediately to alarms. This ensures that even when the engine room is not physically manned, the safety of the vessel is maintained through prompt intervention by qualified personnel in response to automated alerts.