Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Safety
International investigation into marine accidents has shown
that some 80% of all maritime mishaps, accidents and
disasters are caused by human failure or crew's negligence.
The investigation has shown that the most frequent cause of
marine disasters lies with communication, or rather miscommunication, both inter-ship, intra-ship and between
vessels and Vessel Traffic Service-stations (VTS-stations).
..flooding
that will cause such a list that the vessel will
capsize and be wrecked,
..collisions
2008 - Ship Collision Off Kyushu Island Leaves 3 Chinese Dead, 13 MissingFreighter Shinyo Sawako, a vessel
from China's Hong Kong Special Administration Region, and the fishing boat Lurongyu 2177 from the Chinese
mainland collided on the waters some 350 km south of Takarajima Island. The fishing boat sank immediately after
the crash, only two of its 18 crew members have been rescued
..groundings
acts of piracy
..casualties
persons overboard,
casualties,
injuries
and
Consequences
When there is a total loss of ship and/or cargo, loss of lives, or a
widespread and severe environmental damage, we speak of
catastrophic consequences.
Consequences
When there is severe damage to ship and/or cargo,
when seriously injured persons require hospitalisation, or
when there is severe environmental damage, we
speak of major consequences.
Consequences
When there is significant damage to ship and/or cargo, when
injured persons require medical attention, or when there is
significant local damage to the environment, we speak of
moderate consequences. When there is minor damage to ship
and/or cargo, when persons are suffering from minor injuries
that do not require medical attention, or when there is hardly
any
environmental
damage,
we speak of
minor
consequences
that are
negligible.
Safety-factors
The safety of passengers and crew, ship and cargo is
determined by both internal and external factors, but most of
all by the Human Factor. The internal factors (IF) that may
influence safety are: the ship's dimensions and draft, her
rudder, propulsion system and navigational instruments.
The external factors (EF) are formed by weather conditions,
currents and tides, characteristics of
fairways and
unforeseen events. In documents the term "Act of God"
indicates that the shipowner will not be held responsible for
damage caused by
natural disasters.
Good seamanship
refers to The Human Factor (HF) and depends on the quality of the seafarers on
board. And because most vessels have been manned with multi-lingual crews,
special attention should be paid to the introduction of the internationally
standardised form of maritime communication on every ship in the world.
The Weather
Temperature
Humidity
Humidity refers to the amount of water vapour in the air. Warm air is
capable to contain a higher grade of moisture, or humidity, than cold
air. The maximum amount of moisture that air can hold at a specific
temperature is known as "saturation. Most clouds are the result of a
rising mass of cool air. When the temperature of air falls, water
vapour in the air will condense into droplets of ice crystals, thus
forming clouds or fog.
Cloudiness
Fog
Precipitation
Precipitation is formed when the droplets or ice crystals in clouds have become
sufficiently large to fall to the ground.
Precipitation may take a variety of forms, for example rain, snow, drizzle, hail
or sleet.
Wind
Wind
Falling barometric pressure generally indicates that a
gale or storm is approaching; rising pressure indicates
the approach or continuation of fair weather.
Winds
Winds
Wind is always named after the direction it is coming from, not blowing in. Its force is
indicated by the Beaufort-scale numbers. These numbers, ranging from zero to
force 12, refer to the wind-speed measured in nautical miles per hour. For the
navigator the wind direction and force are the most important aspects of
meteorological conditions that are forecast in weather reports by weather stations.
Information must always include an increase or decrease in force and any change
in wind-direction. A change of direction is usually indicated by the terms "veering"
and "backing. A veering wind changes in a clockwise direction. A backing
wind changes in anti-clockwise direction.
Weather Forecast
Ship Motions
Due to the influences of wind and sea the vessel can make three
different rotating motions and three different linear motions:
when her starboard and port sides rise and fall with the waves, the
vessel is rolling http://
www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/roll.gif
when her stem and stern rise and fall with the waves, the vessel is
pitching http://www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/pitch.gif
when her bow is pushed to starboard and then to port, the vessel is
yawing http://www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/yaw.gif
when the whole ship rises and falls back into a trough, she is heaving
http://www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/heave.gif
when the ship is pushed forward by the waves and sinks back into a
trough, she is surging http://
www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/surge.gif
when the whole ship moves bodily to starboard and then to port, she is
swaying http://www.jacobtanenbaum.com/noaa/other/june17/sway.gif
Sea State
By "sea (or seaway) is meant the waves that are formed by wind in a
"generating area, that is: the area where the waves are being formed.
Waves that have travelled out of this generating area are referred to as
"swell. Height of waves depends on the prevailing wind force, how long
the wind has been blowing, current and fetch. Sea-state codes are used to
indicate to the mariner what the sea will look like. The codes range from 0 to
9 and correspond with a wave-height in meters.
Ice
Ice
New ice and Nilas (an elastic crust of ice) are quite soft and pliable forms of
ice that will hardly cause any damage to sea-going vessels.
Ice
Care must be taken that water inlets will not become obstructed.
Young ice and first-year ice are thicker and tougher and can be
recognized by their grey-white or milky-white colour. Icebreaker
assistance will often be necessary to ride up the ice and form an
opening.
Ice
After one year the ice will take a greenish appearance.
When the colour of the ice is green-blue we are dealing
with old ice (2 or more years of age) which is extremely
hard and dangerous to navigation.
Ice
Pancake ice, ice cakes and icefloes are flat pieces of ice 30 cm to 20 m in
diameter. Floebergs and Floebits are massive pieces of sea ice. Growlers,
Bergy hits and Icebergs are enormous pieces of floating ice with a thickness of
10 cm to many metres. Icebergs are notorious for their submarine ledges that
may extend to great distances from their visible parts, which constitute not more
than 10% of their total volumes.
Tides
Tides are mainly caused by the gravitational pull of the moon. This attractionforce causes the waters to swell out towards the moon in a high tide. At the
same time, on the far side of the earth, the moon's attraction is at its weakest
and the waters on that side will swell away from the moon in an equal and
opposite high tide. Within the 24-hour-period two high tides arise, with two
low tides in between them.
Tides
Tides
The shape of a continent may prevent water from flowing uninterruptedly across the
surface of the planet, and this has complex effects on the regularity of tides. In some
places there are four high tides within 24 hours, while only one high tide and one low
tide a day in other areas. There are places on the oceans surfaces where all the tidal
forces cancel each other out. In restricted areas the tides may be almost
imperceptible, while in other areas enormous ranges - differences between high and
low tides - may occur.
Tides
Tides are measured from chart datum, and levels are always given at
average (mean) heights. The Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) is the lowest
tide that has ever been recorded in that area. Highest high tides and lowest
low tides are called Spring tides.
Highest low tides and lowest high tides are
called Neap tides. When the tide is turning
we speak of Slack tide. So, at Low Slack
the tide is about to rise; at High Slack the tide
is about to fall. This latter tide is especially
important to the mariner, since it is the best
tide to leave and proceed to open sea.
The safety during a voyage is very dependent on the "conduct of vessels. This conduct
is largely determined by Good Seamanship and depends on the proper application of the
Rules of the Road, or, as they are also known, the Regulations for the Prevention of
Collisions at Sea (COLREGs). These internationally accepted rules apply to all vessels
upon the high seas" and in all waters navigable by seagoing vessels. Special rules that
deviate from the COLREGs are allowed. However, such special rules, made up by local
authorities for roadsteads, harbours, rivers, lakes or inland waterways, must conform as
closely as possible to the Rules.
ColRegs
The Rules consists of three parts.
Part A (Rules 1, 2 and 3) is a General part
Part B (Rules 4/19) deals with
Steering- and Sailing-Rules
and is divided into 3 chapters:
"Conduct of Vessels in any Condition of Visibility"
"Conduct of Vessels in sight of one another"
'Conduct of Vessels in Restricted Visibility".
Part C (Rules 20 / 38) is about Lights and Shapes.
This latter chapter mainly deals with the lights
exhibited from vessels, and sound signals.
Emergency Response
Fire fighting
Dangerous Goods
The symbols used to indicate the types of dangerous goods have been categorized by means of
coloured labels. The colours that are used
give very important information concerning
the storage of dangerous goods.
Dangerous goods
Orange-coloured labels indicate chemicals that must be separated
from flammable liquids by an intermediate space or on deck by at
least 12 meters. Red-coloured labels indicate chemicals that must
be separated from flammable solids, spontaneously combustible
agents or agents that are dangerous when wet by a longitudinal
space or on deck by at least 24 metres. Green-coloured labels
indicate chemicals that must be stored at a safe distance from
explosive goods. Yellow-coloured labels indicate chemicals that
may not be stored near flammable gas,
non-flammable compressed gas or
toxic gas.
In case of inhalation the patient must be removed into fresh air; very often
oxygen or artificial respiration will have to be given. In case of ingestion of
certain chemical substances patients are not allowed to vomit.