§51322 Protection of cadets from sexual assault onboard vessels

Summary

The Maritime Administrator must create rules that ship owners and operators must follow before they take a United States Merchant Marine Academy cadet for Sea Year. The rules must cover preventing and responding to sexual harassment, dating and domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. The Administrator must also set up a way to collect information from those owners and check that they follow the rules. The Administrator must develop in-person sexual assault risk-reduction and response training for midshipmen at least semiannually (at least twice a year). That training must follow best practices when possible, include scenario-based exercises, and be developed with input from experts. Ship owners and operators must have policies that cover communication with a trained person ashore, stateroom safety, crew reporting consistent with section 10104, and keeping records of reports and of required training. They must give each cadet a copy of the vessel’s policies. Owners must certify every year that they follow the Administrator’s criteria and that the vessel meets the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 (32 UST 47) and sections 8106 and 70103(c). Cadets must get ship-specific safety and prevention training before boarding, be given and trained on a means of communication, have access to a helpline staffed by trained personnel, and be told about owner security duties. At least every two years, Academy or Maritime Administration staff must run random and targeted unannounced checks of at least 10 percent of vessels hosting cadets; staff can remove cadets from noncompliant vessels and must report the problems. Owners and seafarer unions must keep records of sexual assault training. Each cadet must complete a Sea Year survey when finished; the survey questions and yearly combined results must be made public. Public vessels are not covered, though the Administrator may set rules if they want to join the Sea Year program. The Administrator must share best practices with State maritime academies.