IMCA provides lessons learned from two incidents relating to emergency drills and musters.
Incident 1 – Emergency button stuck
During an emergency drill, it was found that the General Emergency alarm on the bridge was delayed whilst being activated.
Further investigation revealed that dedicated Emergency button was stuck, and it failed to perform its function in a timely way during the drill.
Lessons learned
- Check: could your emergency alarm buttons be stuck or seized? When was the last time anyone actually pressed the fire alarm button?
Incident 2 – Near Miss – Smoke at muster station
A fire alarm was set off on the port side muster station where there was a smoking area. An AB and the 2nd Mate were sent to investigate what was going on. On arrival at the muster station there was dense smoke coming from the ashtray stand. The ashtray was opened, and a smouldering paper cup was found, along with recently discarded cigarette butts.
The smoker had, instead of bringing the cup to the dedicated waste bin which is just 10 metres away, just opened the standing ashtray and dumped the paper cup together with the still burning cigarette butt and closed it. This action caused smouldering and a small fire and could have developed into a much more serious situation.
What went wrong
- Personal negligence and not following basic rules;
- In other circumstances and conditions such negligence could have led to a more serious fire.
