Top 13 Things Junior Engineer Should Learn On Joining a Ship

A Junior Engineer when new to ship is surrounded by doubts, confusion, and fear. When new to ship, it is very normal for any marine engineering professional to make mistakes. For this reason, senior engineers in the engine room keep themselves a bit lenient and give the fresher space and time to absorb and learn things. However, a junior engineer shouldn’t expect unlimited time to learn and grasp things. After the very first month, or probably after 15 days, the new engineer would be expected to carry out his or her duties independently without making mistakes.

It is therefore important that a junior engineer, though officially on a training period should know and learn as fast he or she can. The faster the engineer grasps and learns things; the better would be the future learning process. In this article we bring you the top 13 things that a Junior engineer should do when new to a ship.

Junior Engineer

Top 13 Things a Junior Engineer Should Do As Soon As Possible When New to a Ship

1. Ship Familiarisation

Familiarise yourself with the ship as soon as possible. Don’t have a mindset that you are going to be there on the ship for several months and thus have ample of time to do so later. The sooner you familiarize with the ship, the better and easier it would be for you.

2. Know the Escape Routes Thoroughly

While familiarizing yourself with the ship, make sure you remember ship’s emergency escape routes and doors like the back of your hand. This is the first lesson of safety on ship, especially for new crew members.

3. Know the location of Muster Stations

Find and remember the way and location of muster stations. You don’t want yourself you get lost during an emergency or a drill.

4. Should know who the DPA is

Junior engineer should find out who the designated person ashore (DPA) of the ship is. This is important according to the International Safety Management Code (ISM).

5. Segregation of garbage

Junior Engineer should know what garbage to throw in which designated coloured garbage box. This would be the same for all the ships and thus would be helpful for him throughout his sailing life.

6. Company rules and policies

In order to save himself and the ship from any trouble, the junior engineer should know the company rules and policies thoroughly. This would give him a clear idea as to what he can do and what he cannot when on a ship.

7. How to Use Emergency Equipment

Personal safety comes first for any crew member new to the ship. Junior engineer should learn how to use emergency equipment such as an emergency generator, life-saving appliances, fire fighting appliances etc. along with their locations.

8. Learn About Various Alarms

Learn about identifying various alarms such as Co2 alarm, general alarm, engine room alarm, and fire alarm, along with actions to take in case of such situations.

9. Launching of Life Boat

It is imperative that everyone on the ship knows how to launch a lifeboat. A junior engineer should know how to launch and operate a lifeboat, along with the procedure to start the life boat’s engine.

10. Know SOPEP

Know about the sopep locker and what all things are present in it.

11. Know the Automation in the Control Room

Know how to operate the basic operations and equipment in the engine room’s control room.

12. Learn About Manuals

Find out what all manuals are available in the engine room and where are they located.

13. Familiarize with Engine Room and Engine Room Workshop

This is where you would be spending most of your time on a ship. Know each and every corner of these places.

You may also like to read-What Is Marine Engineering? & How to become a marine engineer? 

What is Maritime English and Why It Is Important?

The Beach Lifeboat Launching and Recovery System

Disclaimer: The authors’ views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of Marine Insight. Data and charts, if used, in the article have been sourced from available information and have not been authenticated by any statutory authority. The author and Marine Insight do not claim it to be accurate nor accept any responsibility for the same. The views constitute only the opinions and do not constitute any guidelines or recommendation on any course of action to be followed by the reader.

The article or images cannot be reproduced, copied, shared or used in any form without the permission of the author and Marine Insight. 

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6 Comments

  1. Good advices given… Bad photo choice… The guys on the photo are not seamen but workers from a ship repair yard…

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