FAQ for schools and institutions

If you are covered by the regulations on small commercial vessels carrying up to 12 passengers, you must always draw up safety instructions. You must either make them yourselves or ensure that they are available and be familiar with their contents. If you have the "ownership" of the  voyage, you must draw up the safety instructions yourselves and, therefore, it is not decisive whether you actually own the vessel. You may very well have to draw up the safety instructions though the voyage is to take place in hired or borrowed vessels. What is decisive is whether you organise and are responsible for the safety in connection with the voyage.

The safety instructions are sufficiently good when you have described and are able to argue in favour of all safety-related aspects of the voyage and that it takes place within the framework of "good seamanship". The safety instructions must have the form of a dynamic document that is of relevance to the type of voyage that you intend to embark upon. Daily and open communication between the management, pupils, parents and colleagues is the basis of a sound safety climate. Therefore, it is not a good idea if only one single person is responsible for safety. It is important that everybody takes part in the safety work so that everybody assumes the "ownership" of and has an understanding of what "good seamanship" means.

No, the Danish Maritime Authority does not approve safety instructions. It is the responsibility of the shipowner that safety instructions are available and that the contents is good.

The school must draw up safety instructions for the voyage and they must be made by persons who know about canoeing. All those who are to take part in the voyage must be familiar with the contents. It is the responsibility of the school that everybody gets home well.

On the page "Passenger insurance", you can find information under frequently asked questions..