On board ships, more often than not, emergencies come unannounced. Many emergency situations, such as fire, flooding, collision, grounding, medical emergencies, man overboard, etc., can occur at any time during the day or even night. With thousands of passengers and crew on board, an emergency situation on a passenger ship can quickly escalate into panic, which can worsen the existing situation very quickly. Therefore, the importance of drills, training and emergency preparedness cannot be over-emphasized. Regarding crew drills on cargo & passenger ships, SOLAS, according to its regulation III/19, mentions that every crew member shall participate in at least one abandon ship drill and one fire drill every month. The drills of the crew shall take place within 24 hours of the ship leaving a port if more than 25% of the crew have not participated in abandon ship and fire drills on board that particular ship in the previous month. For passenger ships, SOLAS, as per regulation III/30, says that such abandon ship & fire drills shall be held weekly. However, the entire crew need not be involved in every drill. First-response/Emergency teams Some selected crew members (usually from Deck, Technical and Security departments) are chosen to form emergency response teams on board. Such teams are usually 3 or 4 in no. as per company policy, and each such team can comprise 15-20 members. These teams are designated, trained and specialise in fire-fighting operations, equipment (donning of fireman’s outfit, SCBA and use of fire hoses, extinguishers, AFFF etc.) and methodology (emergency routes, operation of watertight/weathertight doors, smoke-screen, fire-screen doors, entry procedures in smoke-filled compartments etc.). Usually, the first emergency team is from the deck department. This team acts as the primary team in case of fire/emergency scenarios outside technical spaces (in passenger areas, public areas, upper decks and open decks). The second emergency team is from the technical department. This team acts as the primary team in case of fire/emergencies in technical spaces (engine room and other machinery spaces). A third emergency team comprises members from the security department. They act as assistant/support to the first two teams. A Medical/Stretcher team (comprising of doctors and other medical personnel) is also there, which helps in case of evacuating casualties/ injured/unconscious persons from the scene of emergency and provides them first aid/check for vitals. Each emergency team has a leader who must take full charge during drills and actual emergencies. The team leaders, in turn, report to the On-scene commanders (usually the Staff Chief Engineer for engine scenarios or the Safety Officer for deck scenarios), who are in constant radio communication with the bridge. They are also trained in damage-control methods and procedures to mitigate flooding hull-breach scenarios. Some crew members from the emergency teams (usually some engineers & deck officers) are also appointed as in charge of lifeboats, whereby they must know the procedures to launch/lower lifeboats, on-load/off-load release mechanisms, starting lifeboat engines and safely manoeuvring the lifeboat away from the ship with passengers, in case of an abandon ship scenario. Some of the hotel/entertainment crew/staff can be given first responder duties as stairwell guides (to guide passengers in finding their way to their designated muster stations in an emergency). Such crew