Health & Safety

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has released a safety alert to inform the industry about a fuel spray fire onboard a commercial vessel. These types of incidents, which involve fuel leaks contacting hot surfaces and igniting, happen with too much regularity and have been the subject for various marine safety organizations to consider for many years.

The incident in question
One recent marine casualty involved a 194 GRT inspected offshore supply vessel with an unmanned engine room. This engine room fire led to significant damage, operational down time of the vessel and lost company revenues. On this occasion no one was injured.

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Transport Malta has issued an investigation report about an engine explosion on-board a passenger vessel, which caused severe burn injuries to two people back in May 2016. The report sets out to determine the circumstances of the accident as a basis for making recommendations in order to prevent further and similar incidents from occurring in the future.

The incident
Two motor mechanics from the Company’s workshop were sent on board MV Delfini to investigate an engine problem reported by the vessel’s skipper and engine driver. Work was necessary on the port main engine to identify and eliminate the exhaust white smoke, which was being emitted by the engine under load conditions.

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The Bahamas Maritime Authority has issued a technical alert to bring to operators’ and inspectors’ attention that deficiencies have been found in lifejacket lights manufactured by Alcares in particular types Jack A1-Alk and Jack ARH-Alk, distributed by Datrex. A number of ships have reported issues relating to these defective lifejacket lights.

The notice highlights the following:
– Examination of the lights revealed that the batteries had leaked, resulting in contamination on the main board and resulting in the lights being considered unfit for further use.
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The Registry has issued an advisory note to alert the wider shipping community to the fact it is currently conducting a serious marine casualty investigation into the fatality of two seafarers, which occurred recently onboard a Marshall Islands Registry flagged vessel. Marshall Islands Registry has published its preliminary findings into the incident, which is still ongoing, so that it might help to identify potential risks and preventing similar incidents from taking place.

The vessel involved was a bulk carrier laden with coal. Marshall Islands Registry regrets that two seafarers died and two others were severely burned following the explosion and fire, which took place in the Bosun’s Store Room.

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