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Marine Training Centre Home

Marine Emergency Duty (MED) Courses

The Marine Training Centre offers Marine Emergency Duties (MED) training to all who are interested in pursuing a career at sea. The MED courses are designed to provide students with hands-on experience in performing the duties of a seaman onboard a vessel in an emergency situation. The Centre’s facilities include both enclosed and open lifeboats and a davit system. As part of their training, students will be required to demonstrate their abilities in: launching and operating actual lifeboats during an emergency drill; inflating, righting and boarding life rafts; donning emersion suits and entering the water; accessing fire situations, ensuring equipment is charged and ready, and working as part of a firefighting team at the Training Centre’s own firehouse.

Available on a 12-month demand basis, MED training will lead to a candidate obtaining a Transport Canada Marine Emergency Duties Certificate.

MED A1, A2, A3, A4, B1 and B2 courses prepare trainees to meet the high standard of training required for Canadian Seamen in lifesaving appliances, basic firefighting and survival techniques.

MED C and D courses provide junior and senior officers with the knowledge and skills necessary to inspect and maintain equipment and ensure emergency response teams are prepared to deal with emergency situations.

It is strongly recommended that all seafarers complete MED training before going to sea. Candidates must be free from physical or other disabilities that would render them unfit to perform emergency duties.

Course Offerings

Marine Advanced First Aid
A requirement of Transport Canada, this course teaches injury care for those in an isolated marine environment. Topics include Toxicological Hazards, Pharmacology and Medical Care of Rescued Persons.

MED A1 - Small Vessel Safety Course
Course objectives:

• to give small-vessel seamen an understanding of the risks within the sea environment or presented by their own vessel, and to prevent onboard accidents, including fires;
• to give small-vessel seamen the knowledge and aptitudes necessary to:
  • ensure that their emergency equipment is ready and that the ship's crew is well organized and ready for all emergencies;
  • fight small fires onboard ship;
  • allow them to abandon ship and to get away from it safely;
  • help them increase their chances of survival after abandoning ship;
  • help them survive and save other live

MED A2 - Basic Safety Course
This course is recommended for officers and crews of small commercial passenger vessels and operators of pleasure craft.
Course objectives:

• to provide all seamen with a fundamental understanding of the dangers associated with the marine environment and their own ship, as well as to prevent onboard accidents, including fires;
• to bestow upon seamen the necessary knowledge required to sound the alarm and answer to it and to other emergencies;
• to ensure that all seamen are ready to give assistance in emergency situations associated with a fire or the ship's evacuation;
• to provide seamen with the knowledge and skills that will allow them to participate in their own rescue and to ensure their own survival.

MED B1 - Survival Craft Course
Course objectives:

• to bestow upon the coxswains or crews of rigid or inflatable rescue boats the necessary knowledge and qualities to allow them to abandon ship and to get away from it in all safety;
• to bestow upon the crews of rescue boats the necessary knowledge and skills necessary to coordinate rescue activities and to increase their chances of survival;
• to bestow upon the personnel in charge of rescue boats the necessary knowledge to use all signaling devices, to maneuver the boats and to coordinate survivors during rescue operations.

MED B2 - Marine Fire Fighting Course
Course objectives:

• to bestow upon the trainee the knowledge of fires onboard ships, the causes of these fires and the ways to prevent them;
• to bestow upon the trainee the necessary knowledge and skills to:
  • use portable firefighting equipment found onboard ships;
  • protect himself from danger when fighting fires onboard ships;
  • evaluate the fire, plan an attack, put out the fire, and clean and control the fire area to prevent the fire from starting again;
  • plan the rescue of a victim found in a smoke-filled compartment;
  • operate all fixed firefighting systems.

MED A3 - Basic Safety
The new MED A3 course is in lieu of the MED A1 course for crew members of fishing vessels operating not more than 20 miles offshore and passenger vessels, not including ferries, with unberthed accommodations, only on minor waters and home trade IV voyages. At course completion, participants will possess the basic skills to succeed in the marine environment. Topics covered include marine hazards and emergencies, marine firefighting, lifesaving appliances and abandonment, survival and rescue skills.

MED A4 - Basic Safety Operator and Proficiency Certification
The new MED A4 course is a combined basic safety and operator-training course designed for Masters serving onboard non-pleasure vessels operating not more than 2 miles offshore. Primary emphasis is placed on firefighting and emergency response, as well as operator proficiency items such as collision regulations and search and rescue resources.

MED C - Officer Certification Course
Having passed Parts A1, B1 and B2 of the MED program, students may participate in Part C.
Course objectives:

• provide the Watch Officer on the bridge or in the engine room the necessary knowledge and skills to take action during an emergency situation;
• provide junior officers and key personnel the necessary knowledge and skills to allow them to:
  • inspect and maintain all rescue material and to keep it in a ready state;
  • use fixed detection and firefighting installations onboard ship and to understand their limits;
  • direct a rescue team;
  • log all particular events during an emergency and to present an incident report;
  • control passengers and personnel during emergencies.
• supply Junior Deck Officers with the necessary knowledge and skills to allow them to:
  • answer a distress signal and to direct a search and rescue operation for survivors by using the ship's equipment;
  • organize onboard training sessions and to offer courses on introduction to the ship and onboard safety.

MED D - Senior Officer Course
Having passed the Officer Certification Course, Part C, students may participate in Part D.
Course objectives:

• to bestow upon a ship's Senior Officers the knowledge and skills necessary to:
  • ensure that their junior officers, key personnel and emergency intervention teams are well prepared and well organized to face any emergency;
  • evaluate the damage suffered by a ship and coordinate the intervention needed to minimize the effects of the damage;
  • coordinate emergency interventions onboard their own ship and onboard other ships in distress.

For more information on these and other marine training programs, contact:

Steve MacFarlane, Master Mariner
Holland College Marine Training Centre
100 Water Street, Summerside, PE
Canada, C1N 1A9