Video By Fishermen Says “Wear A Lifejacket”

 lifejacket, maritime safety news, publications, video  No Responses »
Mar 022013
 
A still from Lifejacket:

A still from Lifejacket: A Fisherman’s Friend

Two Bridlington fishermen have made a short film to encourage their fellow fishermen to wear lifejackets whilst at sea. The two minute film, entitled “Lifejacket: a fisherman’s friend” is available on Youtube and may be watched below.

The decision to make the film came after a panel of experts* concluded that 26 fishermen could still be alive today had they been wearing a lifejacket when they were involved in an incident at sea (2007-11 figures). The Fishing Industry Safety Group (FISG), were so alarmed by the new statistic that they put the idea of a short film forward to fishermen Dylan Silverwood and Christopher Stewart. They then made the film, with some help from FISG members. Continue reading »

EUNAVFOR Grabs Nine – “Somali Piracy Has Not Gone Away”

 maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 232013
 
Two skiffs attempt to escape

Two skiffs attempt to escape

On 19 February HNLMS De Ruyter stopped the activities of a group of suspected pirates approximately 200 nautical miles north east of Eyl off the coast of Somalia. Nine suspected pirates were apprehended and taken on board the De Ruyter for further investigations.

The Dutch frigate that is deployed with the European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Somalia – Operation Atalanta, was tasked this morning to find a suspect pirate group that was reported by a Panama flagged merchant vessel off the coast of Somalia. The helicopter of De Ruyter located two high powered skiffs. As the helicopter approached, material was seen being thrown overboard and the two skiffs split up in an attempt to escape. The first skiff was stopped in the water by the helicopter and boarding teams of the Dutch frigate. The second skiff was located by the Spanish EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Reconnaissance Aircraft (MPRA), which kept it under continuous surveillance until it was stopped in the water by the helicopter from the EU Naval Force flagship ESPS Mendez Nunez. Continue reading »

Lifejacket Chamber of Horrors

 maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 162013
 
Badly corroded CO2 bottle

Badly corroded CO2 bottle

MAC is sometimes inclined to the believe that the most used piece of personal protective equipment is a pair of crossed fingers. It’s hard enough to get some seafarers, especially those in the fishing industry, to wear lifejackets at all, looking after them is another matter as service company Seasafe Systems reveals on its website.

Pictures on Seasafe’s rogues gallery shows the sorry state of some of the lifejackets the company has come across. They are quite disturbing.

That said, the attention paid to lifesaving equipment of all kinds is often not what it should be, from lifejackets to survival suits to lifeboats and liferafts.

Might be a good idea to check yours.

 

 

John Collins Injury – Solving A Problem Got Foot Chewed

 Accident report, fishing boat,, maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 162013
 
John Collins - prop shaft chewed skipper

John Collins – prop shaft chewed skipper

Jonathan O’Donnell, skipper of the fishing Vessel John Collins is currently recovering from injuries to his foot sustained in an incident which could have led to amputation. Unsafe working practices and lack of effect safeguards led to him being caught up in a rotating propeller shaft says a newly released accident investigation report from Eire’s Marine Casualty Investigation Board, MCIB.

While it was proceeding home the vessel’s bilge alarm sounded and after pumping out the bilge it sounded again shortly afterwards. The skipper went into the fish hold and lifted the covering boards over the bilge containing the pump and the propeller shaft.

The engine was not stopped or put into neutral and the shaft was turning. The skipper put his foot into the bilge beside the turning shaft in order to reach down to clear debris from the bilge pump.

Continue reading »

Swire Mini-Container Hinge Warning

 maritime safety news, Offshore, Offshore, Safety Alerts  No Responses »
Feb 152013
 

swireSwire Oilfield Services has warned of potential door hinge failure on its AMF Mini containers AMF 651 to AMF 1104. The wrong grade of steel was used in the hinge assembly which could result in hinge pin failure.

Users have been advised to quarantine units and Swire is recalling them for repair where necessary.

For more information download the safety alert

Fisherman’s Dodgy Safety Cert: “Placed lives at risk”

 maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 152013
 

handcuffsA Cornish fisherman has pleaded guilty to breaches of the Fraud Act 2006 and Safety Training Regulations, and has been made to pay a total of £14,528 in fines and costs.

44-year-old Alan Fairless, of St. Austell, is the owner and operator of the lobster boat “Flying Spray IV” based in Charlestown. In January 2012, the boat was inspected by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) but Fairless failed to produce evidence of completion of the mandatory safety courses in Sea Survival, Fire Fighting, First Aid and Safety Awareness. He was asked to produce the required certificates within 14 days.

He told the MCA he could not find the certificates, and was then requested to provide evidence of dates booked to attend the required courses. In May, he was issued with an Improvement Notice to complete the safety courses. Despite saying he had to cancel one course to attend a funeral, Fairless then contacted the MCA at the end of June to say he had found his certificates. Checks on the documents found them to be fakes. Continue reading »

Nine Detained BY MCA

 maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 142013
 

Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has announced that nine foreign flagged ships, five of them new cases, were under detention in UK ports during December 2012 after failing Port State Control, PSC, inspection.  These include the curious case of Cien Porciento.

Only three vessels remained under detention at the end of December. The overall rate of detentions compared with inspections carried out over the last twelve months was 3.52% this is slightly up from November’s twelve month rate. Continue reading »

Dealing With A Stroppy Hose

 maritime safety news, Offshore, Safety Alerts  No Responses »
Feb 122013
 

A PSV was working alongside an installation and had successfully completed a discharge of oil based mud (OBM) to the installation via the mud hose. The vessel was subsequently required to deliver base oil (BO) using the same (OBM) delivery hose.

In order for the hose to reach the BO manifold onboard, the vessel would be required to re-position the OBM hose from the forward hang off pin to the aft hang off pin. This was to be executed utilising the platforms crane. The OBM hose was connected to the crane pennant and was lifted clear from the forward hang off pin in the usual manner. It was then transferred aft and re-positioned to one of the hang off pins adjacent to the BO connection. Once the hose was in the required position the hang off sling was placed over the pin.

The ABs noticed that the hose hang off sling was displaying signs of wear and tear / damage during the re- positioning of the hose from the forward to the aft pin. They however continued with the operation and as a precautionary measure they decided to secure the hose with a piece of rope as a backup. Continue reading »

ATSB Google Maps Accidents

 maritime safety news  No Responses »
Feb 122013
 

UntitledAustralia’s Transport Safety Board website now has a Google maps application that pinpoints all active ATSB investigations around the world. The system uses the latitude and longitude coordinates of each occurrence to display markers for aviation, rail and marine occurrences. Clicking on a marker will reveal the reference number and details. A click on the reference number will link to the investigation page with full details of the occurrence and progress so far.

Says the ATSB: “This feature will make it much easier to find information on our active investigations. A search by locality function allows you to search for occurrences in a particular area. For example, by entering ‘Perth, WA’ into the search field, you can see all the ongoing investigations in the Perth region. The map page will link to a list of current investigations”.

Check out the map: www.atsb.gov.au/map.aspx

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