Page last updated 3/11/24
United States Power Squadrons®
Vessel Safety Check
Program Policies
The Program
The United States Power Squadrons participates in the Vessel Safety Check Program through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOA) between the organizations involved. The Vessel Safety Check Program is owned by the United Sates Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety and administered and managed by the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. Funding for the program is provided by a program sponsor, chosen by the program owners. That sponsor is subject to change every three years. As part of the MOA agreement USPS members, squadrons, and districts who participate in the program are bound by the rules, policies and procedures established by the owners and managers of this program.
These rules, policies and procedures spell out how the decals look, how they are distributed and accounted for, how inspections are reported, the manner in which inspections are preformed, along with the many other details of the program. As agreed in our MOA, United States Power Squadrons or its subordinate units and participants are not at liberty to change any of these rules, or policies and procedures.
Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Between USCGAux and USPS PLEASE READ
Qualification
Initial
A member wishing to participate in the VSC Program must be a USPS member in good standing and at least 18 years of age. The member will need to study the Vessel Safety Check Manual available from the USCGAux web Site at http://vdept.cgaux.org/pdf-files/CIM_16796_8A_Printable_Version.pdf
This manual is available in electronic form only. If a member wishes a paper copy they must print it themselves.
When the member feels comfortable enough with the material in the VSC Manual the member must pass and exam on the material. The passing grade is 90 percent. The exam may be taken online at https://www.usps.org/VSC/ExaminerTest/VSCMain.php.
After the member successfully completes the exam the member must then complete 5 supervised exams under the supervision of a currently qualified Vessel Examiner form USPS or the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.
Upon successful completion of those supervised visits, the supervising examiner shall enter the completed exams in the USPS database, and the Squadron Commander completes the VSC-2 form available at http://www.usps.org/national/vsc/formtool_files/VE%20Certification%20Final.pdf and submits the form to the Safety Committee Staff Commander responsible for the program.
NOTE: This newly qualified Vessel Examiner is not required to perform 5 additional VSC for the current year to remain qualified for the following year. Hereafter, Requalification rules apply.
Requalification
A member who completes a minimum of five vessel safety checks each calendar year shall remain eligible to perform Vessel Safety Checks the following year.
If a member fails to complete the five Vessel Safety Checks in a calendar year the member will lose the ability to perform further Vessel Safety Checks until such time as the member completes two checks under the supervision of a qualified examiner. Those checks are entered into the USPS online database, and the squadron commander completes the VSC-2 form stating the member has completed the recertification process and submits the VSC-2 form to the Safety Committee Staff Commander responsible for the program.
If a member fails to complete the required five Vessel Safety Checks for five consecutive years, that member becomes ineligible to participate in the program until such time as the member completes the qualification process as for a member who is initially qualifying to be an examiner.
Administration
National Duties
Governance
The USPS VSC program is managed by the USPS Safety Committee. A Staff Commander is appointed by the Rear Commander of the Safety Committee to manage the program and is responsible for overall program execution, and administration.
The VSC Staff Commander in charge of the program will authorize headquarters staff to supply additional decals after receiving a request from a squadron chair or commander, determine awards, qualify additional VSC participants, after determining that an individual has meet the testing and training qualifications, generate the required reports, and other tasks that may be required to administer or execute the program as assigned the Safety Committee Rear Commander.
Decal Distribution
Each year in November information regarding the number of decals awarded by each squadron is collected from the VSC Report by District, Squadron, and VE. (http://www.usps.org/national/hq/vsrpt2.txt ) The information in this report gets populated from the information imputed on the VSC Online Submittal Portal. (http://www.usps.org/php/DHinders/vsc/grant/form.html)
For the upcoming year, each squadron will receive VSC decals equal to the number of VSC decals awarded the current year plus an additional 10%. For example if a squadron awarded 100 VSC decals in the current year then the squadron would receive 100 decals plus an additional 10 decals for a total of 110 decals for the following year.
Decals are sent out in December and January to the squadron VSC chair on record at Headquarters. (Districts are not eligible to receive decals.) This information is obtained from National Headquarters database which is populated from the squadron OD-2 form that is completed and submitted by the Squadron during the course of a Watch Year. If your squadron desires decals to be shipped, for whatever reason, to someone other than the VSC chair, change the OD-2 record to reflect the member information your squadron wishes the decals to be shipped to prior to November 1.
Requests for decal replenishment will only be considered after the squadron has used 60% of the original allocation as reflected in the VSC database. It is thus important for the examiner to submit information to the system in a timely manner.
Shipping costs for the initial decal distribution is covered in the Safety Committee Annual Budget. Shipping costs for replenishment and additional decal requests are charged to the squadron account.
Awards
The Safety Committee offers recognition awards to individuals, squadrons, and districts who participate in the program.
A member who completes 100 VSC exams in a single year and has that information recorded in the VSC Online Database Portal as of 30 October of any year is eligible to receive the Century award for that year.
A member who completes 1000 VSC exams over their career and has that information recorded in the VSC online database portal is eligible to receive the Millennium award.
Awards are also given to the top 5 Districts and top 5 Squadrons for each year.
The awards are presented at the USPS Annual Meeting each year, or at such a time determined by the USPS Board of Directors.
Squadron Duties
VSC Chair
A Squadron Commander should appoint a Chair person to manage the local VSC program and is responsible for overall program execution, and administration at the squadron level. Ideally this person should be a qualified examiner in the program.
Duties of the Squadron VSC Chair include: management of the decals allotted to that squadron, including the possibility of redistributing decals from unproductive examiners to productive ones, ascertaining proper and timely data entry by examiners, requesting additional decals, and working with our partner organizations to coordinate VSC events, to locally promote the VSC program, and any other duties assigned by the program manager or squadron commander.
USPS promotes interaction between our squadrons and our partner organizations on a local level, such activities may include but not limited to joint VSC examination days, training, sharing of decal resources, and social events.
Decal Ordering
Only squadrons are authorized to receive decals. Only requests initiated by the squadron VSC chair or squadron commander will be considered. If a squadron has need for additional decals for replenishment, or a special event, the Staff Commander in charge of the program shall be notified of the request and, if deemed warranted, will authorize headquarters staff to supply additional decals. USPS headquarters staff will not ship decals to a squadron unless authorized by the Staff Commander in charge of the program, therefore to expedite the process, decals requests should be sent directly to the Staff Commander responsible for the VSC program.
Data Entry
An individual examiner, or squadron chair, depending on local squadron policy, enters the information from inspection form ANSC 7012 or ANSC 7012a completed as part of the inspection process, using the VSC online Submittal Portal. Information in this database is used to determine if decal replacement is warranted, determine end of year award calculations, report our activities to our partner organizations, and other details.
Information from the inspection form shall be submitted on the VSC Portal as soon as they are completed. USPS provides weekly data to partner organizations and timely and accurate data is important to all. Do not wait until the end of the year to enter this information.
The cutoff date for exams to be entered into the USPS online VSC Database Portal is October 30 of each year. Entries after this date will not be used to calculate the following year decal distribution or be used to calculate current year awards.
The goal of the program is to provide a service to the boating public. However we also need to realize that the VSC decal is a finite resource and printed at considerable expense, to the program sponsor. Ultimately USPS would like to finish each year with each decal we are issued being used.
Highlights
1. The VSC program is owned by the US Coast Guard and administered by the USCGAUX, we work with them through a MOA
2. Only VSC's where decals are awarded are counted towards next year's allocation of decals
3. Additional decals will only be sent after your squadron has used 60% of the original allocation, or a special situation has been authorized.
4. Data for the following year is collected in November, so any VSC's recorded after October 30 will not be counted towards awards.
5. Decals are sent out in December to the VSC chair as listed in the squadron HQ OD-2 record.
6. Shipping costs for the initial decal distribution is covered in the Safety Committee Budget. Shipping costs for replenishment and additional decal requests are charged to the squadron account.
7. Only the VSC chair or the squadron commander can request additional decals.
