1. Answer the questions

1. What was the cause of the chief officer's death?

2. What substance did the tanks contain?

3. What kind of operations were to be carried out before calling at loading port?

4. Who was to be in charge of monitoring the tank cleaning?

5. Why is it necessary to provide accurate keeping of checklists and other documentation?What can inaccuracies lead to ?

6. What procedures were to be done before entering an enclosed space?

2. Decide whether these statements are true or false. Correct the wrong ones

1. The C/O died because of falling down the ladder during tank cleaning procedure.

2. The rest of vapours in tanks had the property of depriving oxygen from the air.

3. As the C/O was a wathckeeper he didn't have to conduct pre-loading inspection of the empty tanks.

4. No Enclosed space drills should be provided before tank inspection.

5. Appropriate signage at tank entrances should be provided to infrom the personnel that tanks may be deficient in oxygen.

3. Explain the following expressions

1. to be deficient in oxygen -

2. to be inerted with nitrogen gas -

3. post-cleaning ventilation -

4. to conduct pre-loading inspection -

5. lack of compliance -

6. competence and diligence -

7. to implement common safety procedures -

4. Choose the factors which could become a reason of tragedy and discuss them:

1. Non-compliance with IMO Recommendations

2. Self-confidence

3. Fatigue

4. Lack of skills

5. Non-performance of drills

6. Law qualification of the C/O

7. Distractions caused by various factors in the course of working with documents

8. Lack of experience and training

54

Bagged Copra Fire

Bagged copra was being loaded from a wharf at a minor Asian port on to an open-decked self-propelled barge. During the three-day loading operation, there were brief rain showers, and even though loading was suspended at these times, the cargo was not covered from the rain. The bags were stacked against the bridge-front bulkhead almost as high as the wheelhouse and subsequent athwartship rows of bags were added from aft to forward ending at the bow door. When loading was nearly complete with about 3000 bags of copra (approx 250 tonnes) on board, a fire started within the cargo and rapidly spread throughout the consignment. Firefighter road tankers came quickly to the wharf but water jets from their fire engines proved inadequate to extinguish the fierce blaze. The worried harbour authorities forced the barge to cast off from the berth, leaving it to drift in the harbour with no assistance. The master and crew were unnecessarily put in grave danger by this careless act. Finally, after about two days' drifting, the fire burnt itself out and barge was towed to a repair facility.

The cause of the fire could not be reliably established but it is likely to have originated either from a carelessly thrown cigarette butt or, as it is known to do, the copra wetted by rain could have self-heated to spontaneous combustion. As the cargo was fully exposed to air from all sides, the fire spread rapidly. Foam could have been more effective in firefighting, but in the absence of a properly equipped firefighting tug, and once the barge was cast adrift, it was out of reach for the local fire trucks that had the means to generate foam.

Lessons learn

Bagged or bulk copra should only be stowed inside holds or compartments that are fitted with fixed firefighting systems. Open deck stowage should be avoided as it poses a serious fire hazard.

*Copra is the dried meat, or kernel, of the coconut used to extract coconut oil.