Tag: safety measures

To improve maritime safety

Following rhe serious accident during drill on board ANNA MAERSK In March a serious accident occurred during a MOB-boat drill on board ANNA MAERSK. The Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Branch is investigating the accident. At this stage nothing precise can be said about the causes and the contributing factors.The Danish Maritime Authority would like to point out that boat drills must be planned and performed so that they are safe in every respect. The safety equipment should be checked and maintained. Abnormal conditions of wear and tear or corrosion should be reported to the master immediately.The boat should be lowered and recovered without persons on board and, when it has been ascertained that this functions correctly, the boat is lowered with no more persons on board than what is necessary to operate the boat.Lowering a boat with persons on board is an example of an element of drills that may - depending on the circumstances - involve an unnecessary risk. Such elements of drills should only be carried out if special precautions are observed and, if necessary, left out of the drill.Danish Maritime Authority's Guidance on safety during abandon ship drills and fire drills on board ships IMO's Measures to ...

UK P&I Club warns The UK P&I Club has become aware that several containers imported to the United States have been placed on hold at their discharge ports due to unacceptable levels of radiation. The radiation is caused by scrap metal containing Cobalt-60 which could have inadvertently been incorporated into the product during manufacturing. The containers placed on hold were booked as bath products and originated in China and India.US Customs & Border Protection has processes in place to detect and prevent these products from entering the United States. If CBP orders the container to be returned to origin, the Club offers the below advice to lines:Container must be isolated until it is placed on the ship Labelled "Marked" with the United Nations (UN) transportation index required by marking the container with Yellow Radiation Level III signs on all sides The manifest should list the cargo as IMDG / IMO radioactive materials section 7 Do not open signs should be placed on the container doors along with the radioactive signs Transport Radiation Level shall not exceed two (2) milliSieverts (2 mSv = 2 mRems) at any point of the external surface. The container should be placed within the ship so ...

Unable to implement the convention on oil spill prevention and response The Caribbean region including Jamaica and other Small Island Developing States lacks the resources to combat a major oil spill, delegates to a regional convention on oil spill prevention and response have been warned.Opening the convention to discuss oil spill prevention, preparedness and response in the Gulf of Mexico, keynote speaker Christopher Cargill, Chairman of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica, said Jamaica and other islands in the region do not have access to vast amounts of resources to combat major oil spills of the magnitude of the BP Deepwater Horizon incident - which occurred two years ago this month in the Gulf of Mexico.He told delegates: "We understand that the BP Deepwater Horizon incident involved 47,000 persons, 600 vessels and 120 aircraft and the responders had access to a Spill Liability Trust Fund.The development of a mechanism for cooperation is therefore a critical part of the preparedness in the region as Jamaica and other small states will have to rely heavily on their neighbours to the north for assistance in dealing with such events. "The objective of last week's convention, held in Kingston, Jamaica from April 11-13th, was to ...

Recommends Safe Practices to Prevent Falls The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) today issued recommendations for safety measures developed from the investigation of an offshore accident which resulted in a fatality. The recommendations are being distributed through a Safety Alert: the safety alert is one of the tools BSEE uses to inform the offshore oil and gas industry of the circumstances surrounding an incident or a near miss. The alert also contains recommendations that should help prevent the recurrence of such an incident on the Outer Continental Shelf.The offshore accident which took place in April 2011 involved the lifting and moving of equipment during a decommissioning project. An offshore worker fell through an opening in the deck and suffered fatal injuries. The safety alert resulting from the investigation underscores the importance of existing safety requirements and recommends to operators:Fall protection such as barricading and vest harnesses should be available and used in the presence of open holes, or if holes may be exposed in the course of an operation;any operation used to lift equipment should be evaluated for all risks;appropriate tag lines (ropes or straps used to manually control the equipment being moved) and use of these tag ...

iPad and iPhone application by NOAA A new iPad and iPhone application is aimed at protecting critically endangered North Atlantic right whales from collisions with ships, its U.S. developers say.The free app, developed by researchers led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, sends data about right whale detections directly to an iPhone or iPad on a ship's bridge, said researchers at the University of New Hampshire, who participated in the app's creation.The app links whale calls detected by a series of listening buoys to captains transiting the busy shipping lanes in and around Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary at the mouth of Massachusetts Bay, a university release said.Collisions with ships are a leading cause of death of right whales, one of the world's most endangered large animals with just an estimated 350 to 500 animals surviving, scientists said.The WhaleALERT app can use Automatic Identification System, a communication system on board all ships, as well as wireless or satellite Internet or 3G networks to deliver information about right whales in the vicinity of ships."This is a huge leap forward in terms of giving this information to mariners in a way that's part of their daily routine," UNH researchers said, noting ...

Secretary-General Mr. Koji Sekimizu recalls the improvements to passenger ship safety

Secretary-General Mr. Koji Sekimizu recalls the improvements to passenger ship safety IMO Secretary-General Koji Sekimizu has issued a video message ahead of the anniversary on Saturday (14 April) of the sinking of the Titanic, remembering all those who lost their lives in the tragic accident, recalling the improvements to passenger ship safety introduced as a result of that incident and acknowledging the need for continual improvement and enhancement of safety at sea.The text of the message is reproduced below."One hundred years ago today, 14th of April, Titanic struck an iceberg, while on her maiden voyage between Europe and the United States. Within a few hours, more than 1,500 people had perished in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic, transforming what was then the world's most celebrated ship into a name forever associated with disaster."The Titanic disaster prompted the major shipping nations of the world, at that time, to take decisive action to address maritime safety. It led to the adoption of the first international convention on safety of life at sea, SOLAS, in 1914."International Maritime Organization can trace its own roots back to the Titanic disaster. In its aftermath, the requirement for an international standard-setting body to oversee maritime ...

Various marine safety improvements have resulted from the tragedy AMSA issues media release regarding the 100 years after the Titanic as follows:On the night of 14 April 1912, the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean and sank early the next morning. It was a tragedy of immense proportions with more than 1500 lives lost, but out of this disaster came countless changes to maritime safety - changes that 100 years later continue to shape the maritime industry.The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was created as a direct result of the sinking of the Titanic. SOLAS is described by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) as being "generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant ships". One of the key advancements in maritime safety brought about following the sinking of the Titanic was in relation to the number and use of lifeboats.The Titanic did not have sufficient lifeboats for all passengers, a lifeboat drill was not conducted, nor did the crew have adequate training in loading and lowering the lifeboats. These issues are all addressed in SOLAS, with minimum requirements specified. Australia is a signatory to SOLAS ...

Technical modifications to the regulation from 2002 on double-hull oil tankers An international set of rules, preventing pollution from tankers, prescribes that tankers carrying oil must be constructed with double-hull or a similar solution to minimise the risk of oil pollution. As a result of the rules single-hull oil tankers have been phased out. With the regulation from 2002 the Member States in the EU committed to further acceleration of the phase-out scheme for single-hull tankers than previously agreed upon. At the same time a new set of rules to limit the transport of oil in single-hull tankers to and from ports in the Member States was introduced.The new regulation, which is the first result in the maritime area for the Danish Presidency, ensures that all changes to the original regulation from 2002 are gathered. This creates transparency in the community laws and increases the ease at which the rules can be understood.During 2011 the Council and the European Parliament has negotiated the proposal under the leadership of changing presidencies. From the start of the six-month presidency the Danish Presidency has worked hard to finish the negotiations, which has now paid off. The political agreement must be formally adopted by ...