[Federal Register: August 12, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 155)]
[Notices]
[Page 47925-47927]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12au03-56]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG 2001-9269]
Guidance for Assessing Merchant Mariners Through Demonstrations
of Proficiency as Officers in Charge of Engineering Watches in Manned
Engine-Rooms or as Designated Duty Engineers in Periodically Unmanned
Engine-Rooms
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of availability and request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the national
performance measures proposed here for use as guidelines when mariners
demonstrate their proficiency as officers in charge of engineering
watches in manned engine-rooms or as designated duty engineers in
periodically unmanned engine-rooms. Because of the comments submitted
to the original docket published on April 5, 2001, the Coast Guard is
re-publishing these
[[Page 47926]]
measures. They were developed from recommendations and input provided
by the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee (MERPAC). We again
request your comments on them.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before October 14, 2003.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2001-9269 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S.
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one
of the following methods:
(1) Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov.
(2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
(4) Delivery: Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is 202-366-9329.
(5) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this
notice. Comments and material received from the public will become part
of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at room
PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street
SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal holidays. You may also find this docket on the Internet
at http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice,
write or call Mr. Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. If you have
questions on viewing or submitting materials to the docket, call Ms.
Dorothy Beard, Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone
202-366-5149.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Public Participation and Request for Comments
We encourage you to submit comments. All comments received will be
posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will include any
personal information you have provided. We have an agreement with the
Department of Transportation (DOT) to use the Docket Management
Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy Act'' paragraph below.
Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your
name and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking (USCG-
2001-9269), indicate the specific section of this document to which
each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. You may
submit your comments and material by electronic means, mail, fax, or
delivery to the Docket Management Facility at the address under
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one
means. If you submit them by mail or delivery, submit them in an
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped,
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments
received during the comment period. We may change these national
performance measures in view of them.
Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, as well as
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket,
go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time and conduct a simple search using
the docket number. You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in
room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh
Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
What Action Is the Coast Guard Taking?
Section A-III/1 of the Code accompanying the International
Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for
Seafarers (STCW), 1978, as amended in 1995, articulates qualifications
for ensuring merchant mariners' attaining the minimum standard of
competence through demonstrations of their proficiency as officers in
charge of engineering watches in manned engine-rooms or as designated
duty engineers in periodically unmanned engine-rooms. The Coast Guard
tasked MERPAC with referring to the Section, modifying and specifying
it as it deemed necessary, and recommending national performance
measures. The Coast Guard reviewed the measures recommended by MERPAC
and developed a set of guidelines for assessing proficiency. Those
guidelines were published in the original docket on April 5, 2001. A
number of comments were made on that proposal and we have now modified
those guidelines to incorporate many of the comments. We are now
proposing these modified guidelines here for use as the final
guidelines for assessing proficiency.
The guidelines are set up as follows: First, we set forth the
Competency within the STCW a mariner should demonstrate to meet the
STCW section. Next we give a series of examples of Performance
Conditions, a set of Performance Behaviors for each Performance
Condition, and a set of Performance Standards for each Performance
Behavior.
For example, if the Competency to demonstrate is: ``Use appropriate
tools for fabrication and repair * * * typically performed on ships''--
A Performance Condition for that competency demonstrating
knowledge, understanding, and proficiency is: In a workshop [or]
laboratory or other safe working environment, given proper tools,
lighting, [and] ventilation, and a thin steel plate of no less than \1/
4\ inch thickness, * * *
A Performance Behavior for that Condition is: * * * the candidate
will plan, prepare, and safely cut out a circular blank flange with
four 7/16'' bolt-holes 90 degrees apart and corresponding to the
dimensions of a two-inch pipe flange, or similar multi-tasked project
using oxyacetylene process, and describe actions as they are being
performed.
A Performance Standard for that Behavior is--or, in this example,
the Standards are--``The applicant (1) correctly plans for and lays out
the job, in proper sequence, and incorporates all safety
considerations; (2) sets up all required equipment; (3) cuts the hole
uniformly according to plan within tolerance of +/-\1/8\ inch; and (4)
ensures that no safety violations occur.''
If the mariner properly meets all of the Performance Standards, he
or she passes the practical demonstration. If he or she fails to carry
out any of the Standards, he or she fails it.
Why Is the Coast Guard Taking This Action?
The Coast Guard is taking this action to comply with STCW, as
amended in 1995 and 1997 and incorporated into domestic regulations at
46 CFR parts 10, 12, and 15 in 1997 and since. Guidance from the
International Maritime Organization on shipboard assessments of
proficiency suggests that Parties develop standards and measures of
[[Page 47927]]
performance for practical tests as part of their programs for training
and assessing seafarers.
How May I Participate In This Action?
We are requesting your comments on these proposed national
performance measures. You may participate in this action by submitting
comments and related material on the national performance-measures
proposed here. (Although the Coast Guard does not seek public comment
on the measures recommended by MERPAC, as distinct from the measures
proposed here, those measures are available on the Internet at the home
page of MERPAC, http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/advisory/merpac/merpac.htm.)
These measures are available on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov,
under this docket number [USCG 2001-9269]. They are also available from
Mr. Gould where indicated under ADDRESSES. If you submit written
comments please include--
[sbull] Your name and address;
[sbull] The docket number for this notice [USCG 2001-9269];
[sbull] The specific section of the measures to which each comment
applies; and
[sbull] The reason for each comment.
You may mail, deliver, fax, or electronically submit your comments
and related material to the Docket Management Facility, using an
address or fax number listed in ADDRESSES. (But please do not submit
the same comment or material more than once.) If you mail or deliver
your comments and material, they must be on 8\1/2\-by-11-inch paper,
and the quality of the copy should be clear enough for copying and
scanning. If you mail your comments and material and would like to know
whether the Facility received them, please enclose a stamped, self-
addressed postcard or envelope. The Coast Guard will consider all
comments and material received during the 60-day comment period.
Your comments will be considered in preparing the final version of
the national performance measures which will be used as guidelines by
the general public. Individuals and institutions assessing the
competence of mariners may refine the final version of these measures
and develop innovative alternatives. If you vary from the final version
of these measures, however, you should submit your alternative to the
National Maritime Center for approval by the Coast Guard under 46 CFR
10.303(e) before you use it as part of an approved course or training
program.
Dated: July 25, 2003.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 03-20466 Filed 8-11-03; 8:45 am]
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