MarinePALS warns of persistent gaps in cold weather safety as crews face rising operational pressures

MarinePALS has issued a warning that many cold weather procedures in the shipping industry still fail to reflect the realities crews face on deck. The organisation has released a six-part training series to help address the fragmented and inconsistent guidance available to seafarers operating in freezing conditions.



Captain Pradeep Chawla (pictured), CEO of MarinePALS, said: “The industry must urgently confront the mismatch between paperwork and practice. Many cold weather procedures still assume ideal conditions, yet crews are working in near zero visibility, high winds and restricted mobility. That disconnect exposes them to unnecessary risk. We need to ask ourselves why guidance continues to overlook the realities seafarers face on deck and what must change to make it genuinely fit for purpose.”



He explained that cold weather procedures often depend on the expertise of the company office. When staff have limited experience of extreme climate operations, the resulting guidance can be incomplete or impractical. This problem is especially evident when a vessel and crew with no history in cold regions are sent on a single voyage, receiving only generic instructions.



Captain Chawla added: “Cold weather affects human performance as much as equipment. Regulations require protective clothing yet give little clarity on the quality needed for true protection. This leaves crews exposed to long shifts wearing inadequate gear. The wider impact on decision making, alertness and mental resilience is still not properly recognised.”

The new MarinePALS video series consolidates scattered regulatory and loss prevention material into a six-part series of microlearning videos. MarinePALS stresses that training alone cannot repair systemic shortcomings, but it can provide crews with clearer support when preparing for extreme conditions.