You should treat the field assessment as you would a normal BSS examination on a privately owned or privately managed boat. In particular take with you all your normal examination paperwork, equipment etc, and when arriving on-site and whilst on-board the boat be responsible for your own health and safety and have due respect for third party risks and interests.
Your field assessment will have practical, theoretical, administrative and two-way discussion components. It should not take more than 3 hours, and will be split into four distinct Elements:
- Simulated examination. You will examine the boat against one ECP Part (such as all relevant checks in Part 2, or Part 3 or Part 7).
- Multiple choice question paper. There will be 10 multiple choice questions with a time limit of 20 minutes.
- Previous BSS examination documentation verification. You must take to the field assessment copies of examination documentation completed during or after a nominated and recent boat examination. You should be prepared to talk through your paperwork with the Assessor.
- Open discussions. This will be an opportunity for you to discuss, informally, any queries, concerns or other matters you would like to air or have answered by the Assessor. It will be an opportunity for you to explore with the Assessor any ECP or other BSS matters you feel unsure about. In addition, this will be an opportunity for you to make constructive suggestions as to how the BSS Office Team can do specific things better or differently that will have a positive impact on examiner performance.
The BSS Business & Quality Manager will provide you with a personal feedback report within two weeks of your assessment. The report will provide a summary of your performance, and as appropriate identify any improvement needs.
On a regular basis we will publish anonymously on this website the collected outcomes and suggestions made by examiners, and we will then use this information to develop and improve examiner support material, training, etc, over time.
There is more information on 'Field Assessments: Essential Info'. It is a series of questions and answers designed to explain the procedure as concisely and fully as possible.
Hopefully it will give you all the information you need, but if you do have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to raise them.