This training coarse is an all hands project, covering all shipboard operations and tactical skills. 

A team of instructors visit the ship and hold training seminars and drills.  Training on board allows the crew to undergo training as a team, ensuring that they have been trained at a consistent level, and reinforcing a concept of a team response to emergencies. It also allows for realistic training scenarios that involve the equipment and surroundings with which the crew is most familiar. By training an entire crew as a team in one sitting, scheduling difficulties and the need to travel to a training site are eliminated. 

Because REFTRA is given on board, drills can be designed to be specific to the vessel, and scenarios are based on input gathered from the vessel's master and crew.

The REFTRA course consists of instruction and demonstrations in general deck and engine room safety procedures, pollution mitigation, shipboard fire fighting, lifesaving procedures and equipment and damage control techniques. 

Final days are devoted to practical drills, including a full-dress fire fighting drill, lifeboat, abandon ship, man overboard procedures and an oil spill response drill. A comprehensive exam is given after the drills are conducted. If conditions permit, drills are performed while the vessel is underway, providing the most realistic drill scenario.