SO YOU WANT
TO BE A...... COASTGUARD
The main objective of the coast guard service is to develop and enforce high standards of marine safety and to minimise accidents and loss of life amongst seafarers and coastal users. Its main responsibilities are marine safety, marine emergencies and marine pollution.
Fulfilling these roles involves 24 hour monitoring of the areas under its control, responding to situations, and undertaking educational activities.
Watch officers are involved in all aspects of the work. They assist in staffing operational centres and may be involved in cliff rescues, coastal searches and boat work.
Watch assistants provide support in an administrative role and in the operations room. As well as general administration, their duties include monitoring equipment, receiving and handling 999 calls, updating logs and providing information to the public.
Auxiliary coastguards are volunteers who are trained to respond to coastal incidents and are paid for the hours they work.
Hours and environment
Coastguard staff are uniformed civil servants, employed at one of the 21 maritime rescue centres around the coast, or at the headquarters in Southampton.
They usually work a 42-hour week in 12-hour shifts, consisting of four day shifts, four night shifts and four days off. Administration staff usually work a five-day, Monday to Friday week.
Indoor work is carried out in busy operational centres equipped with a range of communications equipment such as radio and satellite tracking devices.
Outdoor work may involve going to sea in all weathers, on patrol or rescue missions and being involved in cliff and coastal search and rescue.
Officers must be prepared to work anywhere in the UK, and are expected to serve at least three years in any one station.
Skills and interest
To be a coast guard you should:
• have a serious interest in the sea and in all maritime issues
• be able to understand and use modern communications equipment
• have the ability to assess situations quickly and make sound decisions
• have the ability to work as part of a team
• have leadership ability as you may have to take charge in an emergency situation.
Entry
Most entrants to the service join as watch assistants. For this you need good literacy and numeracy skills, an interest in maritime affairs and the potential to use VDU, keyboard and communications equipment. You must be able to work under pressure and in emergency situations.
These posts are recruited locally and you should contact the District Controller at your nearest coastguard station for details.
Watch officers usually need extensive experience of the sea, with six years sea-going experience or three years in a practical search and rescue capacity. This could be from the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force or the Merchant Navy, or from other seagoing activities involving boat work and navigation. Experience as an auxiliary coastguard is also useful. LS
Minimum academic qualifications are 3 GCSEs (A-C) / S grades (1-3), including English and maths, or the equivalent.
 For details of qualification equivalents see:
• Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (England, Wales and Northern Ireland)
• Scottish Qualifications Authority
• If you do not have these, competency tests can be arranged by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), under whose jurisdiction the work falls.
Auxiliary coastguards must be at least 16, with an interest in, and concern for, safety at sea. The posts are recruited locally.
High standards of physical fitness, hearing and eyesight are essential.
Posts are open to UK and EU nationals and Commonwealth citizens. Commonwealth citizens must be free of any restrictions to reside and take up employment in the UK.
Training
All recruits are given initial training at the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Centre at Highcliffe, Dorset. This is followed by a further training course after the first nine months in the job.
Auxiliary coastguards are required to undertake regular training.
Opportunities
All coastguards are employed by the MCA and there are over 650 regular coastguard officers located around the British coastline.
Opportunities for promotion are from coastguard watch assistant to watch officer and then to watch manager or section manager and beyond.
Annual income
These figures are intended as a guideline only.
New entrants are recruited as coastguard watch assistants on a salary of £8,497, rising to £12,148 plus shift allowance.
Additional allowances are paid to employees stationed in the Scottish Islands. LS |
