- Cold Water Shock and Safety Planning: A Critical Case from UK MAIB.
- UK MAIB Highlights Importance of Lifejackets in Training Vessel Incident.
- Swift Response Saves Officer in UK MAIB Lifejacket Safety Case.
One recent UK MAIB case to appear in their Safety Digest shows the critical role of lifejackets and dangers presented through cold water shock, even in near-calm conditions. It involved a training vessel and a crew member who narrowly avoided a life-threatening situation, reports Safety4Sea.
The Incident
On a warm day that enjoyed full sun, a training ship was anchoring after the completion of a seaboat exercise. In cleaning the sea boat, the coxswain accidentally allowed a small part of an engine to slide off into the water and float away. Seeing this, the officer on the deck of the ship immediately took off his life jacket and jumped over the side to rescue the part.
The officer swam toward the floating part of the engine and soon realised that they were unable to swim back to the ship due to the force of the current. As they drifted off, they were put in danger and this was compounded by the fact that they didn’t have a lifejacket.
The Rescue
The coxswain knew what was happening and informed the ship’s chief officer (C/O). The officer was drifting about 30 meters from the vessel per minute due to the current speed of 1.3 knots. In addition, the water temperature was roughly 15°C which made swimming in full clothes very difficult for the officer.
During the fight, water began to affect the drowning capacity of the officer. Fortunately, a swift decision was taken by the C / O to send the sea boat to be re-launched at the same place, and it quickly reached the place, where the exhausted officer could just board on, who was not require much assistance because he had still some energy in him. On coming back to the training ship, after having been medically examined and kept under observation for a few hours, no injuries were found in the officer.
Lessons Learned
- Importance of Wearing Lifejackets
Lifejackets are designed to save lives, but in this accident, the officer intentionally did not put it on when he was trying to jump into the water so that the automatic inflation could not hinder the extraction of the engine part. The officer is lucky enough to still be alive with his entry into the water without a flotation gadget attached. It could even have been worse without a life jacket to float on and have the head above the water’s surface.
- Risk of Cold-Water Shock
Cold-water shock can cause some fatal physical reactions, for instance, paralysis of muscles and swimming failure. The officer withstood the first dousings of water, but the 15°C water chilled his body too quickly that it lost the capacity to swim. Therefore, this is a case where, during the UK’s summer seasons, the temperatures of water are so low as to trigger cold-water shock.
- Need to Plan Before Acting
In an emergency, one needs to stop and think about what is being done. The instinctive reaction by the officer of prioritizing the getting of the engine part at the expense of their safety endangered them. A couple of minutes explaining to the coxswain would have enabled them to plan a better way of bringing up the part without putting themselves unnecessarily at risk.
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Source: Safety4Sea
