1.Answer the questions

1. What work was carried out in the first incident?

2. Where were crew member at that time?

3. What was one member of the crew hit by?

4. What did he do to avoid the parting wire?

5. How did the crew feel at the time of carrying out the job?

6. Where did the second incident occur?

7. Who fell overboard into the water?

8. What was the vessel experiencing at the time of the incident?

9. What was a crew member doing when his gloved hand trapped between the wire and the swinging hook?

10. What must be done before lashing deck cargo?

11. What must be avoided doing when the vessel is rolling badly?

12. What should one wear when working at height?

13. What should helmets worn have at all times?

2. Explain the expressions in bold using English equivalents.

1. the vessel was alongside;

2. was hit by a parting wire rope;

3. jumped overboard to the wharf side;

4. were over worked and exhausted;

5. carrying out the job;

6. the vessel was rolling;

7. to hook on a wire rope to the swinging;

8. was wearing a life vest;

9. lashing of deck cargo;

10. the vessel is rolling badly;

11. to have chin straps.

3. Decide if these statements are true or false. Correct the wrong ones.

1. No accidents were reported from vessels as a results of lashing deck log cargo

2. The vessel made fast to a wharf stern

3. The crew were not exhausted at the time of carrying out the job

4. The deceased crew member was wearing a helmet with chin straps

5. The crew had both training and experience in this specialized job.

6. In the second incident the vessel was alongside while carrying out log lashing.

7. A crew member was carried off overboard with the hook.

8. All crew members were wearing life vests at the time of the work.

9. Before lashing deck cargo a log entry must be made to the effect that the crew had been briefed thoroughly about the associated dangers.

17

Bridge Distractions

It has become noticeable over the last few years that the bridge watchkeepers have more and more things to distract them from the job that they should be doing whilst on watch, that is navigation and collision avoidance. Whether it is GMDSS alerts from half a world away, more displays to look at (the latest being the AIS) or sometimes these distractions are nothing to do with the job. I had 2 incidents during the last trip on a ship which is run by a well respected oil tanker owner.

Incident 1

The mate who was new to the company could be repeatedly found day after day staring into the networked computer on the bridge, whether he was doing paperwork or writing emails home to his family it does not matter. The fact was that he was never seen to look out of the front windows of the bridge. Sometimes the only time he would get out of his chair (facing port) was to place a position on the chart after the GPS sounded its reminder bell. This behaviour carried on so often that we had to hope that all ships approached from the port side, then at least he may have seen them.

A timely mention of the optimum collision avoidance aid - the radar (or computer) that flashes up a signal at set intervals to remind the OOW to look out and see for him/her self what the "Real World" looks like.