1 Contracting Governments undertake, each for
its national ships, to maintain, or, if it is necessary, to adopt,
measures for the purpose of ensuring that, from the point of view
of safety of life at sea, all ships shall be sufficiently and efficiently
manned.footnote
2 For every ship to which chapter
I applies, the Administration shall:
-
.1 establish appropriate minimum safe manning
following a transparent procedure, taking into account the relevant
guidance adopted by the Organizationfootnote;
and
-
.2 issue an appropriate minimum safe manning document
or equivalent as evidence of the minimum safe manning considered necessary
to comply with the provisions of paragraph 1.
Every ship to which chapter I applies
shall be provided with an appropriate minimum safe manning document
or equivalent issued by the Administration as evidence of the minimum
safe manning considered necessary to comply with the provisions of
paragraph 1.
3 On all ships, to ensure effective crew performance
in safety matters, a working language shall be established and recorded
in the ship's log-book. The company, as defined in regulation IX/1, or the master, as appropriate,
shall determine the appropriate working language. Each seafarer shall
be required to understand and, where appropriate, give orders and
instructions and to report back in that language. If the working language
is not an official language of the State whose flag the ship is entitled
to fly, all plans and lists required to be posted shall include a
translation into the working language.
4 On ships to which chapter
I applies, English shall be used on the bridge as the working
language for bridge-to-bridge and bridge-to-shore safety communications
as well as for communications on board between the pilot and bridge
watchkeeping personnelfootnote, unless those
directly involved in the communication speak a common language other
than English.