The online safety magazine https://safety4sea.com, which amongst other organisations, re-publishes IMCA safety flashes, has published an article entitled “Tackling fire onboard: Where we stand”. It is based on findings from the Safety and Shipping Review 2021 published by Allianz. Some excerpts are described here.
Four common causes of fire onboard
Oil leakage: Leakage from high-pressure fuel oil pipes is the most common risk for fire onboard as oil from these pipes can accidentally fall in high temperature areas due to the machinery involved.
- Do: Insulate any hot surface with a temperature above 220 °C to prevent any oil encountering a hot surface.
- Don’t: Invest in poor quality materials regarding pipes and/or associated fittings.
Electrical failures: Leaving personal electronic items unattended always entails risks, as there have been cases of faulty devices, overloading of extension cables and plugs, etc.
- Do: Remove defective equipment from use/service, when damage is identified.
- Don’t: Use multi-gang extension leads and high current devices onboard.
Flammable cargo: It is not uncommon that fires erupt during loading and unloading of specific cargoes, like coal, as well as from mis-declared hazardous cargo in containers, such as self-igniting charcoal, chemicals and batteries.
- Do: Check that all packages are properly marked and labelled; consider using a Container Packing Checklist.
- Don’t: Pack damaged packages or stow heavy goods on top of light goods.
Hot work: Many cargoes, including a wide range of bulk cargoes and general cargoes can be ignited by hot work.
- Do: Carefully prepare and isolate the work area before work starts.
- Don’t: Neglect a written plan for the operation, agreed by everyone involved.
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Source: IMCA
