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Boat Passenger Safety Orientation

Safety Briefings are a Crucial Part of the Pre-Departure Checklist

Jun 7, 2007

A little time spent briefing your passengers in onboard safety procedures will pay handsomely during a true emergency.

A full passenger orientation or safety briefing for your vessel's passengers is an important step to take in promoting safe boating. The passenger safety briefing is a critical part of your routine pre-departure checklist. Completing a pre-departure checklist can help you avoid unforeseen problems and can prevent many common boating mistakes or problems. Alaska's Office of Boating Safety has a good example of a pre-departure checklist available online. A good safety orientation can be completed in five minutes and will save valuable minutes during a true emergency.

The safety briefing is very basic. It points out the locations of important safety equipment and how to use it. Picture what the passenger should know in an emergency without additional assistance. Construct the briefing to match your boat and its idiosyncrasies. No two boats are alike. Rigging and equipment locations differ even among sister ships. There is nothing wrong with providing additional information to interested passengers throughout the voyage.

Consider printing your vessel's unique safety briefing on a card that can be handed out to passengers and posted aboard. Commercial operators often put together notebooks made available to customers that contain information on local sites, geography, history, and wildlife, and include their vessel safety data as part of the presentation.

Safety Orientation Items to Consider:

Passengers should be checked for appropriate clothing
Location of personal floatation devices (PFD) and how to use them
Show passengers how to don an immersion suit if they are carried aboard
Instructions for use and location of fire extinguishers
Instructions for use and location of VHF marine radio. Review basics of a Mayday distress call
Demonstrate how to use installed Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment and find the current vessel location
Explain actions to be taken for a man overboard and location of throw bags, life rings and life slings
Show passengers the locations of EPIRB, survival equipment, visual distress signals and first aid kit
Ask passengers to help maintain a lookout for hazards to navigation like logs or rapidly approaching boats
Explain waste management practices in place on the boat and how to use the head
Point out unique features and idiosyncrasies of your boat to passengers
Demonstrate basic boat operations like starting, stopping, shifting gears and steering
Leave the safety orientation open for additional passenger questions

Boating and Sailing at Suite101 continues to encourage readers to act as professional mariners, taking the extra steps needed and become truly prepared boaters. Your passengers, friends and family will appreciate the effort.

The copyright of the article Boat Passenger Safety Orientation in Boating & Sailing is owned by Alan Sorum. Permission to republish Boat Passenger Safety Orientation in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.