New approach to ensure STCW
compliance of your simulators
CERTIFICATION
STCW requires that all simulators
used for STCW related training and
assessment of seafarers shall be ap-proved
by the respective MET (Flag)
State. Most MET States fulfil this re-quirement
by simply accepting cop-ies
of DNV GL approvals issued to the
manufacturers for a specific simulator
type (Statement of Compliance, SoC).
However, since the scope of delivery
of a simulator to a training centre can
deviate significantly from the scope of
the SoC, STCW compliance is often not
fully ensured.
The DNV GL SeaSkill™ simulator Prod-uct
Certificate was introduced in Janu-ary
2000 to fill this gap. However, it
was infrequenty requested due to the
cost and time-consuming work. The
MET States often neglect this exist-ing
void with respect to STCW compli-ance.
Through an renewed initiative for
simulator Product Certificates, DNV GL
helps to give effect to the STCW Con-vention
and contributes to the quality
THE MARITIME SIMULATION NEWSLETTER | DECEMBER 2019 PAGE 23
of maritime training.
The standard for certification of mari-time
simulator systems DNVGL ST-
0033 is the basis for certification and
has the following target groups:
a) A training provider, which uses a sim-ulator
for examination.
b) A training provider, which uses a sim-ulator
for mandatory simulator training.
c) A training provider, which uses a sim-ulator
for demonstration of continued
proficiency.
d) A training provider, which is in the
process of buying/installing a new sim-ulator,
which shall be used for examina-tion
or mandatory simulator training.
e) A manufacturer or end user offering
a simulator for use in science, or plan-ning
of maritime operations, examina-tion
or mandatory simulator training,
and shall document the compliance of
the simulator to the buyer.
There are different type of approvals
based on the target groups, as follows:
Product Certificate for Maritime
Simulators to the training providers
Maritime simulators that comply with
the requirements of the standard will re-ceive
a Product Certificate for Maritime
Simulator. The simulator’s function area
and the simulator class according to this
standard will be stated on the certificate.
The product certificate will make refer-ence
to the appropriate competencies,
which are the simulation objectives of
the simulator. The Maritime simulator
product certificates will have a validity
period of five years provided the results
from annual tests are satisfactory.
Statement of Compliance to the
manufacturers
A manufacturer offering a simulator for
science, planning, examination or man-datory
simulator training that complies
with the requirements of this standard
may request verification to obtain a
statement of compliance.
The statement of compliance will make
reference to the appropriate function
and competence areas, which are the
simulation objectives of the simulator.
The statement of compliance will have a
validity period of five years. Provided the
results from renewal tests are satisfac-tory,
the statement of compliance may
be renewed for another five-year period.
DNV GL and Kongsberg Digital has an
agreement that enables KDI to add a
DNV GL Simulator Product Certifica-tion
to their scope of supply for the
simulator systems that is in possesion
of a Statement of Compliance. Based
on this, worldwide training centres us-ing
simulators installed by Kongsberg
Digital can obtain DNV GL simulator
Product Certificates in a simplified and
cost effective way. The new DNV GL
certification process makes use of the
documentation of the Site Acceptance
Test of an installed simulator together
with “as built” documentation to issue
Product Certificates.
With this new approach, training cen-tres
can achieve cost savings of ap-proximately
50% compared to the
traditional way of certifying. In addi-tion,
worldwide Maritime Education
and Training (MET), as governed by
IMO through STCW, benefits through a
clearly stated compliance for each cer-tified
installed simulator.
BY: AXEL DAVID NORDHOLM, MANAGER SIMULATOR CERTIFICATION, DNV GL SEASKILLS
PHOTO: Through a renewed initiative for simulator Product Certificates, DNV GL helps to give
effect to the STCW Convention and contributes to the quality of maritime training.
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