Submitted by Lt. Cmdr. Cory Heard, Marine Safety Unit Texas City

The Coast Guard announced in the Federal Register July 14, 2017, the availability of Change–2 to the Marine Safety Manual (MSM), Volume III, Marine Industry Personnel, and the corresponding Commandant Change Notice that highlights the changes made to that manual.

Volume III of the Marine Safety Manual provides information and interpretations on international conventions and U.S. statutes and regulations relating to marine industry personnel.  The primary reasons for the revision were to incorporate the following:

• Updated guidance to align with the Howard Coble Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2014;
• Manning scales for towing vessels certificated under Subchapter M from recently published Inspection of Towing Vessels final rule (81 FR 40003, June 20, 2016); and
• Various policy updates impacting vessel manning.
• Additional enhancements include a Suggested Safe Manning Proposal Template, Coast Guard Work Instruction, Master’s Field Guide, and Verification Check-sheet.

The manual represents the Coast Guard’s current thinking on the topic of marine industry personnel and may assist industry, mariners, the general public and the Coast Guard, as well as other Federal and State regulators, in applying statutory and regulatory requirements.  The change comes into effect immediately.

For information about this document contact Lt. Cmdr. Cory Heard at 409–978–2704  or via email at Corydon.F.Heard@uscg.mil.

This blog is not a replacement or substitute for the formal posting of regulations and updates or existing processes for receiving formal feedback of the same. Links provided on this blog will direct the reader to official source documents, such as the Federal Register, Homeport and the Code of Federal Regulations. These documents remain the official source for regulatory information published by the Coast Guard.