Regulation 14
Ships' manning
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.*
2 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 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 personnel**, unless those directly involved in the communication speak a common language other than English
Regulation 15
Principles relating to bridge design, design and arrangement of navigational systems and equipment and bridge procedures
.1 facilitating the tasks to be performed by the bridge team, and the pilot when on board [and acting]***** in making full appraisal of the situation and in navigating the ship safely under all operational conditions;
.2 promoting effective and safe bridge resource management;
*Refer to the Principles of Safe Manning adopted by the Organization by resolution A.481 (XII).
**The IMO Standard Marine Communications Phrases (SMCPs) (MSC/Circ.794) may be used in this respect.
***Proposed by the Secretariat.
****Refer to Guidelines on ergonomic criteria for bridge equipment and layout [being developed]. Performance standards for IBS (resolution MSC.64(67); annex 1); and for INS (resolution MSC.86(70); annex 3).
*****Proposed by the Secretariat and IMPA.
