NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 209

5946

16. General procedures applicable to all equipment—(1)
    When working with dangerous voltages, all necessary safety precautions should be observed, and a “stand-by” should be present when reaching into such equipment.

(2) In order to safeguard equipment, the person responsible should—

(a) Handle components, circuits, and cables carefully, use tools with care, and provide good mechanical mating of plugs, screws, and threads:

(b) Maintain an inventory of appropriate spares and requisition replacements for consumed items:

(c) Inspect all equipment for dirt, corrosion, signs of overheating, foreign matter, poor connections, and displaced components or wires:

(d) Inspect all equipment for mechanical insecurity, including loose screws, contacts, and components:

(e) Where required, apply lubricants with care:

(f) In the absence of other instructions, dispose of faulty components and not keep them among spares; in exceptional cases, when no spares are on board, doubtful components may be kept and clearly marked “doubtful” until new spares are provided.

17. Maintenance and care of tools and test instruments—Tools and instruments should not be misused. Instruments should, if necessary, be sent ashore for calibration.

18. Antennae and earthing system care—The protection against antenna breakage should be inspected to ensure proper fitting and condition. All antennae should be regularly inspected for snagging or weakening of wire antenna and fracture of rod antenna, and any necessary remedial action taken. Insulation, including insulators in whistle lanyards, triatics, stays, and direction finder loops, should be cleaned regularly and, where possible, any damaged items replaced. Earthing straps, including those on stays, should be inspected and tested regularly for low resistance contact.

TWELFTH SCHEDULE

Basic Principles and Operational Guidelines Relating to Safety Radio Watchkeeping for Radiotelephone Operators on STCW Convention Ships

General

1. Basic guidelines—(1) The master of every STCW Convention ship should ensure that—

(a) The radiotelephone watch is maintained in accordance with these performance standards; and

(b) The equipment and, where provided, the reserve source of energy are maintained in an efficient working condition.

(2) The master should ensure that the radiotelephone station is controlled by a radiotelephone operator and, in an emergency concerning own or other ships, that the radiotelephone station is properly manned.

(3) Basic guidelines including, but not limited to, the following should be taken into account on all ships:

(a) A continuous watch should be maintained on the distress frequency 2 182 kHz or in such other manner as may be prescribed or approved:

(b) Watch should be maintained on VHF (if carried):

(c) Safety radiotelephone services should be provided to own and other ships:

(d) During silence periods the mute should be lifted from the filtered loudspeaker and an adequate volume level set to ensure that no distress messages are missed; since repetitions of urgency and safety messages may be transmitted at the end of silence periods, this aural watch should be continued for an adequate period after the end of each silence period:

(e) Distress, urgency, and safety messages should be passed to the master immediately on receipt:

(f) Routine weather and navigational warning messages for the area the ship is traversing, and for other areas of direct interest, should be noted:

(g) On ships participating in a ship position-reporting system, relevant position messages, authorised by the master, should be sent as necessary.

(4) Unauthorised transmissions, especially those made during silence periods or during distress transmissions, and any harmful interference incidents should, if possible, be identified, logged, and brought to the attention of the Secretary.

Operational Guidelines Relating to Safety Radiotelephone Watchkeeping

2. General—(1) Before the commencement of the voyage, the radiotelephone operator should ensure that—

(a) All radio equipment for which the radiotelephone operator is responsible is in efficient working condition and accumulator batteries are sufficiently charged:

(b) All documents and supplements required by international agreements, notices to ship radio stations, and any additional documents required under the Act are available and discrepancies are reported to the master:

(c) The radio room clock is accurate:

(d) Antennae are correctly positioned, undamaged, and properly connected.

(2) The radiotelephone operator should ensure that all relevant documents are corrected and amended in accordance with the latest supplements.

3. Watchkeeping duties—(1) Immediately prior to sailing from a port, the radiotelephone operator should, where practicable, update routine weather and navigational warning messages for the area the ship will be traversing and, at the request of the master, for other areas, and pass such messages to the master.

(2) On sailing from a port and opening the station, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) Listen on the appropriate distress frequency for a possible distress situation:

(b) Send a TR (name, position, and destination, etc.) to the local coast station and other appropriate coast stations from which traffic may be expected:

(c) Copy weather forecasts and navigational warnings on the first relevant transmissions.

(3) When the station is open, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) Check the radio clock against standard time signals at least once a day:

(b) Send a TR when entering the area of a coast station from which traffic might be expected; the coast station concerned should be informed on leaving its service area.

(4) When closing the station on arrival at a port, the radiotelephone operator should—

(a) Advise the local coast station and other coast stations with which contact has been maintained of the ship’s arrival and closing of the station:

(b) Ensure that antennae are earthed:

(c) Check that accumulator batteries are sufficiently charged.

4. Action to be Taken in Cases of Distress, Urgency, and Safety

Distress—(1) The distress call should have absolute priority over all other transmissions. All stations which hear it