Environmental compliance equipment

Oily water separators, bilge alarms, the Oil Record Book and ballast water systems, ready for inspection.

6 lessons 1 h 29 min Practical 3D simulator in every lesson Course completed card

Written by Al Safwan Marine service engineersRules checked 20 October 2026

Start course Preview lesson 1

Lesson 1 is open to everyone. An account (just your email) opens all 6 lessons and saves your progress.

What you'll learn

Say exactly when oily water may go overboard under MARPOL Annex I regulation 15, and what must stay on board.
Explain how an oily water separator, its 15 ppm bilge alarm and its automatic stopping device work, and plan the five-yearly calibration and the on-board checks.
Keep an Oil Record Book that survives a port state control inspection, and recognise the signs of a bypass before a prosecutor does.
Apply the D-1 and D-2 standards, the BWMS Code and the contingency rules to your own ship.
Plan a BWMS commissioning test and the annual, intermediate and renewal surveys, and know what the 2026 convention review will change.
Maintain the IHM after every repair and refit, and know how the Hong Kong Convention and the EU Ship Recycling Regulation apply to your ship.

Course content

6 lessons · 1 h 29 min total

Lesson 1 is open to everyone. An account opens the rest.

1 MARPOL Annex I in the engine room 14 min · 3D simulator · Quiz Open

You will be able to say, for any drop of oily water in the engine room, whether it may go overboard and what has to be recorded.

Open lesson 1

2 The oily water separator and 15 ppm bilge alarm: tests and calibration 16 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to trace an OWS system part by part, test it the way an inspector does, and keep its calibration and records in date.

See how lesson 2 starts

3 The Oil Record Book and magic pipe cases 15 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to write and check Oil Record Book entries with the right codes, and spot the inconsistencies that turn an inspection into a prosecution.

See how lesson 3 starts

4 Ballast water: D-1, D-2 and the BWMS Code 15 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to say which ballast water standard your ship must meet, what makes its treatment system legal, and what to do when it cannot treat.

See how lesson 4 starts

5 Commissioning testing and annual checks of ballast water systems 14 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to plan a BWMS commissioning test, keep the system ready for its annual survey, and know what will change when the 2026 amendments enter into force.

See how lesson 5 starts

6 Inventory of Hazardous Materials: Hong Kong Convention and EU SRR 15 min · 3D simulator · Quiz With an account

You will be able to tell which list an item belongs in, keep Part I of the IHM valid through every repair, and know which certificate your ship needs where.

See how lesson 6 starts

Course completed card
With your name and a link anyone can checkAt the end

Inside a lesson

Every lesson in this course has the same five steps: a primer, a 3D tour of the part (Watch it), the reading, a task you do on the 3D machine yourself (Try it) and a short quiz. 6 lessons use this simulator.

A product tanker cut open along its length: the engine room with the oily water separator and 15 ppm alarm, and the ballast water treatment system filling the ballast tanks

Who this is for

Engineers
Deck officers
Superintendents
Service technicians
Surveyors

No experience needed: every lesson starts with a short primer in plain words.

Your Course completed card

Finish every lesson to get a Course completed card with your name and a QR code anyone can scan to verify.

Share it on LinkedIn, WhatsApp and elsewhere, or download the picture.

It shows you completed online familiarisation training. It is not a certificate or an STCW, flag-approved or manufacturer qualification, and it doesn't replace that training.

About this course

Pipework and machinery in a ship's engine room — Photo: iSawRed on Unsplash

Pollution equipment is where an engine room’s paperwork meets criminal law. In 2016 a cruise operator agreed to pay a US$40 million criminal penalty after a newly hired engineer reported a “magic pipe” that had been used to pump oily waste overboard off England. In February 2025 the owner and operator of a bulk carrier were fined US$1.85 million and banned from US ports after a routine Coast Guard inspection found a portable pump and hose rigged to the bilge holding tank. In both cases the equipment was on board and certified. What failed was how it was used, tested and recorded.

Ballast water is the newer test. Since 8 September 2024 every ship under the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention has had to meet the D-2 discharge standard. During the joint port state control campaign of September to November 2025, “Is the BWMS operational?” was the question ships failed most often in the Tokyo MOU region. Since 26 June 2025 the Hong Kong Convention has also required an Inventory of Hazardous Materials (IHM), which every existing ship of 500 gross tonnage (GT) and above must have by 26 June 2030.

This course works from the instruments themselves: MARPOL Annex I and resolution MEPC.107(49) as amended, IMO’s Oil Record Book guidance, the BWM Convention and the BWMS Code, the commissioning testing guidance, the Hong Kong Convention, the 2023 IHM Guidelines and the EU Ship Recycling Regulation. Each lesson gives the rules with citations, the numbers you need, the changes coming in 2026 to 2028, and what inspectors and prosecutors actually find.

Written by Al Safwan Marine's service engineers from SOLAS, the IMO codes and circulars, and class and flag rules. The sources are listed at the end of every lesson.

Surveys, PSC and compliance

Surveys, audits and port state control

How surveys, safety and labour audits and port state inspections work, and how a ship gets ready for them.

7 lessons1 h 45 minPractical

Surveys, PSC and compliance

Flag, class and port state control

How surveys, class approval, flag rules and port state inspections shape lifeboat work on a managed fleet.

6 lessons1 h 30 minAdvanced

Lifeboats and liferafts

Lifeboat safety and the rules

Why lifeboats hurt people, which rules keep crews safe, and what to check, log and leave to specialists.

8 lessons1 h 30 minIntroductory

Ready? Lesson 1 takes 14 minutes.

Free during our launch period. On your phone or computer, no password.

Start course

Environmental compliance6 lessons