What does an electro technical officer do?
An electro technical officer handles several responsibilities on vessel mainly related to electrical systems. Like most jobs at sea, as a ship officer handling electronics on a vessel, you are most likely to work under a chief engineer who supervises everything on a ship. And while under a chief engineer, your ship jobs would include the following things.
- Maintenance and working of electrical equipments on board
- Working of electrical parts like engine rooms, radio communications, electronic navigation needs like echo sounders, Gyro compass, Weather Fax, auto pilot, RADAR system, Broadcast and internal aerial system, telephone and talk back system and satellite communications
- Look into basic electric needs like refrigeration, bridge systems and control rooms
- Maintenance of emergency systems including emergency switches, fire alarms and detectors
- Vessel’s electrical components like navigational lights, battery backups and electrically operated propelling machinery
- Assist chief officer in handling routine works especially related to electrical handling
- Coordinate work with on shore technicians
- During emergencies, an electrical officer plays important role like every other ship officer. You would be required to handle the emergency situations and ensure all the equipment needed for safety is always ready
- An electro technical officer looks into electrical and technical aspects on a vessel. Hence working of computer controlled machinery would be supervised by an ETO.
- An electrical officer is immensely important on cruise ships and passenger vessels which have huge electrical requirements and unmanned technology handling them. Everything from refrigeration to air conditioning on such vessels would come under your supervision as an electro technical officer.
