Transport Malta has published its investigation report on a crew fatality in the pump room of the crude oil tanker MT Valtamed, while at Ceyhan OPL Anchorage, Turkey, in February 2020. The autopsy found that the pump man died by n-Butane intoxication. The investigation believes that the presence of H2S in the bilge space may have also contributed, by either causing panic or unconsciousness.
Whilst Valtamed was at anchor awaiting berthing instructions, pre-arrival tests of the high-level alarms of the vessel’s cargo tanks, and the forepeak store and pump room bilges were being conducted by the crew members.After testing the atmosphere of the vessel’s pump room, the pumpman proceeded to the bottom platform to test the space’s bilge alarms.
Although the port side bilge alarm was successfully tested, the chief officer noted that starboard side bilge alarm had not activated within Continue reading “Transport Malta reveals pump room fatality caused by n-Butane intoxication”
A new entry to my blog is long overdue. As an aside, the title of this blog – 
Handy guide 26, ‘What a marine surveyor needs to know about metacentric stability, the inclining experiment, heel and rolling tests’, authored by Elliott Berry FIIMS, covers an area that for many marine surveyors remains something of a dark art. Yet understanding stability and its theory as well as in practical terms as to why a vessel floats is something all surveyors must understand fully.
