There is new scientific evidence from the International Agency for Research on Cancer that exposure to mild steel welding fume can cause lung cancer and possibly kidney cancer in humans. The Workplace Health Expert Committee has endorsed the reclassification of mild steel welding fume as a human carcinogen.
The speed of which the fire grew to encompass the engine room and the location of primary fire equipment within that same space together eliminated the opportunity for the crew to effectively fight the fire.
The NTSB issued an investigation report on the engine room fire and explosion onboard the towing vessel ‘J.W. Herron’ on Big Bayou Canot near Mobile, Alabama in December 2017. The report identified leaking lube oil from a propulsion diesel engine hose or tubing fitting that was ignited off an exposed hot engine surface, as the key cause of the accident.
About 1340 local time on 13 December 2017, the towing vessel J.W. Herron was shifting barges on Big Bayou Canot near Twelvemile Island, approximately 8 miles north of Mobile, Alabama, when a fire began in the lower engine room and quickly spread.
The Swedish Club has published some lessons learnt from a machinery failure. The six cylinder, medium speed type engine sustained serious damage serious damage and had to be renewed. Additionally, the turbo charger had to be overhauled.
The vessel in question was in ballast and at anchor, waiting for further instructions. After seven days the weather got worse and the ship’s anchor dragged. The anchor was heaved up and the vessel started to slow steam in the area.
North P&I Club has launched a new series of bite-sized training packs to help seafarers and others avoid the contributing factors to workplace casualties, as well as unplanned events that had the potential to result in injury, illness, or damage. The first training pack focuses on the Can Test, the IMSBC test for bulk cargoes, to address suspected bulk cargo liquefaction risk, which has claimed the lives of an estimated 112 seafarers since 2007.
The Can Test provides ships’ crews with an indication of whether the cargo being loaded is potentially unsafe to carry, minimizing liquefaction risk. The Club’s delivery guide actually provides the background, instructions and content to support senior officers and superintendents delivering can test training to ship’s officers and crew. Continue reading “Can test training pack launched by North Club P&I Club to address liquefaction risk”
The rescue line of the throw bag failed during a boat capsize drill
On the evening of 24 March 2018, the Warrington Rowing Club was carrying out a boat capsize drill in a swimming pool. At around 1830, as a young person was being pulled to the side of the pool using a throw bag rescue line, the line parted. The young person was uninjured during the incident. The parted line was examined and found to be made up of four pieces of rope thermally fused together, and it had failed at one of the joints. A customer notification campaign by the manufacturer, RIBER, and prompt publication of the incident in British Rowing’s newsletter, identified a total of ten throw bags with defective rescue lines. Laboratory tests conducted for the MAIB established that the joined sections were 12 times weaker than the rope itself.
One of the containers came loose and hit one of the flat racks with jerry cans.
The Swedish Club has released details about a cargo fire caused by moving cargo due to inclement weather conditions. The case has highlighted the importance of detailed planning and discussions among Master, Chief Officer, technical manager or charterer, when it is about critical cargo operations.
The RoRo vessel was underway and expected to sail through heavy weather with up to Beaufort scale 10 winds and eight metre high waves. The cargo onboard consisted mainly of vehicles, containers and jerry cans with fuel on flat racks.
Before loading, the Chief Officer went ashore to inspect the cargo. He inspected the jerry cans that were secured with quick lashings through the handles of each row and secured to bars on the flat racks.
He was concerned that the jerry cans were placed on flat racks and not in containers, as there were no walls around the racks to protect the jerry cans. The flat racks and containers were Continue reading “Fire caused by moving cargo”
At 1438 on 27 March 2018, the Bahamas registered general cargo vessel Celtica Hav grounded on a stone training wall in the approach channel to the River Neath, Wales.
The vessel had a harbour pilot on board at the time who had control of the steering and speed. Celtica Hav was quickly re-floated and manoeuvred clear of the training wall.
It suffered extensive shell plate damage to the bottom of its hull, which resulted in water ingress to several ballast tanks and flooding in the engine room.
The flooding was contained using the vessel’s bilge and ballast pumps, and submersible salvage pumps provided by the harbour authority.
“In many ways, it is understandable that fire suppression on board is overlooked. The actual percentage of boat fires in relation to boat usage is very small”.
Most marine insurance policies state that boats must have adequate fire protection says Sea-Fire’s Richard Duckworth.
But he says many boatbuilders are fitting the minimum protection they can get away with and crossing their fingers it will never be put to the test.
“For the last 20 years, major production boat builders have recognised they have a duty of care to protect their customers and to fit as standard a comprehensive engine room fire suppression system using fully tested and marine approved components,” says Richard.
“Unfortunately, this is not mirrored across all the industry.”
RCR engineers frequently come across vessels with no smoke or CO alarms that have fire risks and ventilation issues.
River Canal Rescue (RCR) is urging boaters to pay more attention to vessel maintenance and safety following an increase in the number of call-outs for faults caused by what it describes as a general lack of maintenance.
In 2016, this amounted to 948 call-outs, in 2017 there were 1031 and in 2018 RCR had 1081 call-outs due to lack of maintenance and safety, together with continuing fires and CO poisoning incidents.
“Boaters who fail to maintain their vessels or pay attention to boat safety put themselves and others at risk,” said RCR operations director, Jay Forman.
February 2017, on board the passenger cruise ship Emerald Princess, a nitrogen cylinder burst resulting in one fatality.
New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) has published its report on the accident in Port Chalmers, Dunedin in February 2017, on board the passenger cruise ship Emerald Princess. A nitrogen cylinder burst resulting in one fatality. The core of the report highlights a lack of global minimum standards for inspection, testing and rejecting pressure cylinders for stored energy systems on lifeboat launching installations, a common system on cruise ships.
On February 9, 2017, while the Bermuda-flagged passenger vessel ‘Emerald Princess’ was berthed at Port Chalmers in Dunedin, its crew was conducting maintenance procedures on one of the lifeboat launching systems.
According to the guidelines, the transport of DVB without any temperature control generally relies on the DVB being at a low enough temperature when shipped.
The Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS), the International Group of P&I Clubs and the TT Club have published industry guidelines for the carriage of Divinylbenzene (DVB) in containers.
DVB is a chemical prone to polymerization (a form of self-reaction). When shipped in bulk, DVB polymerization can lead heat and flammable gas to be generated. Thus, the stowage of containers carrying DVB aboard vessels can present a risk of explosion and fire, if they are not properly presented for carriage.
As a series of polymerization incidents took place from the carriage of DVB by sea in 2018 the IMO approved changes to the way that polymerizing substances, like DVB, are carried, by amending the IMDG Code. These changes are included in amendment 39-18 of the IMDG Code, which will be mandatory from 1 January 2020, but may be applied voluntarily from 1 January 2019.
The MSIU were notified of the accident on 26 December 2017
Transport Malta’s MSIU has published its investigation report into a serious incident concerning the Maltese-registered capsize bulk carrier ‘Capri’ that arrived at Dampier anchorage, Australia on 22 December 2017. The ballast system’s valves were damaged, causing approximately 1,100 tonnes of seawater flooding the engine room.
