“We learn a lot from it”

They have courses and certificates. They practice theory via remote learning and they train it in practice ad nauseam.

You could be forgiven for thinking that the group of experienced seamen from ESVAGT thought that renewing their OPITO certificate with yet another strapping down of a patient and another exercise in CPR would feel tiringly repetitive – but that is far from the truth.

For Henning Jørgensen and Kim Kaae, able seaman and chief engineer on the ’Esvagt Celina’ respectively, and Dan Gaarslev, chief officer on the ’Esvagt Preventer’, the OPITO renewal is another opportunity to learn yet more and become even better:

“We know from our training and our daily work that this is something we need to know how to do and do it well. So we take this opportunity to learn more and ask about actual tasks. We learn a great deal from it,” confirms Kim Kaae.

“Each crew member must pass the test as an individual and must also cooperate to pass in groups. That is also how they work,” says Henning Jørgensen:

“Kim works alone looking after the machines on board the vessel. But if he becomes ill and the rest of us couldn’t take over his duties, everything would stop because we wouldn’t be able to oil the machine. That is why we all need to be able to cover for each other,” says Henning Jørgensen.

They all feel that safety can never just be “good enough” and cannot be practised “too often”. It is second nature to them - for example, during one of his onshore breaks, Henning Jørgensen once jumped out of bed and was half in his immersion suit because he heard a fire alarm – before he realised that the alarm was just from the television!

“A week before I am due to muster again, I can start to feel that my safety focus increases. I don’t relax again until I see Esbjerg in the rear view mirror on the way home from another trip, says Dan Gaarslev, who then immediately corrects himself:

“And yet maybe not. You carry it around with you everywhere, even when you are at home. I always check that the door to the 1st floor is closed so the children don’t fall down the stairs, and when we are on the beach, I keep an eye out for everyone who is swimming. It’s the little things but you can really sense them. Safety is something you wear every day,” says Dan Gaarslev.