Who actually needs to take ASH training on board?
Verneombud (safety representatives), AMU (working environment committee) members and those responsible in the shipping company's shore organisation must have at least 40 hours of safety and environmental training under ASH-forskriften § 5-14, regardless of whether the ship currently has a safety representative. Everyone else on board is entitled to training suited to their own tasks under § 2-6, but not necessarily 40 hours.
Yes, but only if you are a verneombud (safety representative), sit on the arbeidsmiljøutvalg (AMU, the working environment committee), or hold responsibility within the shipping company's shore organisation. In that case, ASH-forskriften (the ASH regulation) § 5-14 requires at least 40 hours of training in safety and environmental work – and the requirement applies even if your ship currently has no safety representative.
Who must take the 40-hour course?
ASH-forskriften § 5-14 names three groups: safety representatives, members of the working environment committee (AMU), and those responsible for safety and environmental work in the shipping company's shore organisation. If you belong to one of these groups, you must have at least 40 hours of training in safety and environmental work.
The role determines the duty, not the job title. A mate who is elected as safety representative must take the course by virtue of that role – not because she is a mate. The same applies to the person in the shipping company's shore organisation who holds formal responsibility for safety and environmental work, often an HSE manager or quality manager who follows up the fleet from ashore. A cook with no role in the safety service falls outside this specific requirement, even if she works just as many hours on board as everyone else.
Does the requirement still apply if the ship has no safety representative or AMU?
Yes. Sjøfartsdirektoratet (the Norwegian Maritime Authority) is clear that the 40-hour requirement does not fall away because the vessel is too small to have its own safety representative or working environment committee. What changes is who reports: on vessels without a safety representative or AMU, it is the master who must submit the annual report on safety and environmental work instead.
Sources
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