3.2. Vessel TRIAGE categories and operational focuses
The Vessel TRIAGE method provides an understanding of the
vessel’s safety status, which is expressed in terms of a Vessel
TRIAGE category. The category indicates the safety for persons
onboard a vessel, accounting for the prevailing and anticipated
conditions on the vessel and its environment. Fig. 3 shows the four
categories and their definitions, along with a description of the
general situation onboard. Black represents the most unsafe conditions,
where the vessel no longer provides any safety for the people
onboard. Green1 represents situations in which the vessel safety is
least compromised.2
Arguably, the most significant difference in the vessel’s safety
status is between the yellow and red categories. In the former, it
is still safe for people to remain onboard the vessel. In the latter,
their safety is severely threatened, either immediately or in the
foreseeable future. This is stressed in their definitions: ‘‘there is a
risk that the situation will get worse” (yellow) and ‘‘level of safety
has significantly worsened or will worsen” (red).
Closely linked with the Vessel TRIAGE categories of Fig. 3, the
method includes general descriptions of operational focuses for
each category. These are shown in Fig. 4, and describe what kind
of measures the vessel and maritime responders typically need
to take to manage the respective situations. These operational
focuses are informative in nature, and guide the type of actions
to be taken once the Vessel TRIAGE category has been determined.
In other words, the descriptions in Fig. 4 are not used to determine
the appropriate category, but they are presented here because they
show another perspective on the differences between the
categories.