Rood Boven Groen

I passed the final assessment; when will I receive my certificate?

If you have followed the training with a Company Code, the certificate will be sent to the company

For the following training courses, you will receive an email containing your certificate within a few minutes of completing the exam:

Company security officer;
Passenger ship crowd management;
Crisis management and human behaviour refresher;
Passenger safety, cargo safety and hull integrity refresher.

Please print this certificate and keep it safe with your other certificates.

Rood Boven Groen will issue certificates for the following training courses within three working days:

Passenger safety, cargo safety and hull integrity;
Crisis management and Human Behaviour;
Security awareness;
designated Security Duties.

We will send a scan of the certificate to your email; the original certificate will be sent to your address. Please be aware that, depending on your place of residence, it may take up to two weeks for the original certificate to arrive.

I did not pass my final asessment; can I take it again?

If you do not pass the final assessment, you can review the content of the training course again and retake the final assessment two times.

Can I take the final assessment without reviewing the training course material?

No, it’s not possible to take the final assessment without first completing the training course material. All chapters must be completed in the set order, and both the videos and exercises are mandatory. You can only proceed once a video has been fully watched or the exercise has been completed. This ensures that everyone is fully prepared for the exam. Thank you for your understanding!

What is the validity of my certificate?

Our training certificates have no expiry date. This is because for our training, unlike the Basic Safety training, Proficiency in Survival craft and Resque Boat, Proficiency in Fast Resque Boat and Advanced Fire Fighting, you do not necessarily need a refresher training.

The obligation to refresh is set by the flag state to comply with the STCW code
Other than for the trainings mentioned above, the STCW code does not for all trainings explicitly state how seafarers should maintain the skills that they were taught. Often, for example, nothing more is required by the Code than that the seafarer should be able to continue to ‘demonstrate the required standard of competence’ after having participated in an initial training. It is not stated how this should be done. In these cases, the flag states can decide for themselves.

A flag state may then choose fulfill this requirement by obliging its seafarers to refresh these trainings also. However, not every flag state opts for this possibility. There are also flag states that reason that if a seafarer collects enough days at sea to renew their certificate of competency every five years, in doing so they will also maintain the ‘proficiency standard’ of the training that they took. The Dutch flag state also takes this view. For that reason, a Dutch certificate for trainings for crew on passenger ships, like crowd management or crisis management training, does not have an expiry date, while these certificates will expire after 5 years when issued by other flag states.

The Security Awareness, Designated Security Duties, Ship Security Officer and Company Security Officer course have an unlimited validity.

Can the training be stamped in my Seaman's Book?

Unfortunately, it is not possible to send a sticker for the Seaman's Book. However, a sticker is not necessary as the exam certificate is superseding.

I would like to follow the Crowd Crisis training, where can I find this?

Although we often speak of 'Crowd Crisis' training as a single term, these are however two separate training courses.

Passenger ship crowd management and;
Crisis management and human behaviour.

Why is the Passenger ship crowd management training course not approved by the Dutch Maritime Authorities (Dutch Flag)?

The training institute Rood Boven Groen is approved by the Dutch maritime authorities (Dutch Flag). During an official audit, the Dutch Flag reviewed the lesson plans and course content of all our training programs.

Please note that no certificate was issued for the Passenger Ship Crowd Management course, as neither the STCW Code nor Dutch legislation requires formal certification for this short course.

Which courses need a refresher?

The STCW Code has named four general courses (i.e., those not specific to a ship type) that need refreshing every five years:

– Basic Training

– Advanced Fire Fighting

– Proficiency in Survival crafts and other Rescue Boats

– Proficiency in Fast Rescue Boats

If you hold a certificate for one of these courses, you will need to refresh it every five years to keep it valid.

The obligation to refresh is set by the flag state to comply with the STCW code
Other than for the trainings mentioned above, the STCW code does not for all trainings explicitly state how seafarers should maintain the skills that they were taught. Often, for example, nothing more is required by the Code than that the seafarer should be able to continue to ‘demonstrate the required standard of competence’ after having participated in an initial training. It is not stated how this should be done. In these cases, the flag states can decide for themselves.

A flag state may then choose fulfill this requirement by obliging its seafarers to refresh these trainings also. However, not every flag state opts for this possibility. There are also flag states that reason that if a seafarer collects enough days at sea to renew their certificate of competency every five years, in doing so they will also maintain the ‘proficiency standard’ of the training that they took. The Dutch flag state also takes this view. For that reason, a Dutch certificate for trainings for crew on passenger ships, like crowd management or crisis management training, does not have an expiry date, while these certificates will expire after 5 years when issued by other flag states.

What to consider before choosing STCW training or online courses

If you enter ‘STCW training’ into your search browser, you will see a plethora of providers offering courses. You might be tempted to book the cheapest and closest by. However, you may be doing yourself a disservice and making an unwise investment of time and funds by doing so.

Have you considered taking an online STCW course? Online training and courses are a practical and cost-effective solution. Choosing an STCW training course that is available online opens up the possibility of making a considered choice of all providers.

Selecting an STCW certified provider is essential. You should check the flag under which the training is recognised (click here to view the flags that accept Dutch certificates). It would be a shame to invest time and money in a training course that restricts your vessel or position options.

Once you have selected appropriate providers based on these two factors, you can separate the wheat from the chaff by looking at their level of experience in providing STCW training and courses. You may also consider their background; do they have experience at sea themselves? How has the training been developed? By following these three steps, you can be sure to choose a high-quality training course that serves you now and in the future.

Differences between countries – why is my STCW certificate not valid worldwide?

The fact that the training and certification standards for seafarers have been laid down in an international code raises the expectation that a training that complies with STCW standards will be internationally valid, regardless of the where in the world you took it.

Yet this is not the case. In order to achieve a convention at an international level, the agreement of many countries is required. All of these countries have their own political and economic interests that they will want to, or need to, defend. If the regulations of a convention are too strict, some countries may find it difficult or disadvantageous to comply with them – and the convention will be in jeopardy. Regulations that come into force by means of an international convention are therefore typically formulated in highly diplomatic terms. The STCW Convention and Code are no exemption to this rule.

Next to that, once a convention has been diplomatically achieved, each country is responsible for the implementation of the new regulations in their national regulatory framework. Now even though the purpose of the convention was to set a common standard, the diplomatic terminology of the convention allows for different interpretations. And this means, for example, that country A may end up imposing different requirements on its training institutes than country B. Thus if you, as a seafarer, take an STCW training in, say, the Netherlands, the training may be executed in a different way than it is in Germany, Brazil, or Liberia.

Very often these differences are surmountable, and country B will judge the training that you took in country A to be equivalent. But sometimes the differences are too big and country B may judge that country A’s training is not acceptable. In other words: The flag state of the ship that you are sailing on may sometimes not recognize a training course that you have taken abroad.

Do you offer the Basic Safety training online?

The Basic Safety Training is not available online because it includes practical components that must be demonstrated and assessed in person. This training covers essential hands-on skills such as firefighting, personal survival techniques, first aid, and personal safety and social responsibilities—all of which require physical participation to ensure competence.

According to the STCW Code and Dutch maritime regulations, these practical elements must be conducted in a controlled environment and assessed by certified instructors. For this reason, Basic Safety Training must be completed at an approved training facility and cannot be offered fully online.

Thank you for your understanding!

Frequently asked questions