IMCA Marine Division

Publication Details

Fires in Machinery Spaces on DP Vessels

This document, published by IMCA Marine Division, updates earlier guidance provided by its predecessor organisation in 109 DPVOA - Engine Room Fires, published in 1994. While any fire on board a vessel is a serious situation, the operational consequences of shutting down the engine room on a dynamically positioned (DP) vessel will almost certainly be more serious than on standard cargo ships. It is an obvious fact that fire prevention is infinitely more cost effective than putting out a fire and is much safer for the ship's crew.

At the time of the original publication, it was apparent that few DP vessel operators had established procedures for response in the event of an engine room fire. This was potentially serious where the operational status of the vessel at the time meant that ship power had to be retained for making safe the work site, recovering divers or ROVs or ensuring the safety of drilling activities, possibly in heavy weather conditions. The purpose of the document was to disseminate the potential hazards to a wider audience and draw attention to the need for prevention and detection of engine room fires and for the correct and adequate training of vessel personnel to ensure the right actions were taken as early as possible.

Since then, there have been many technical developments in both fire detection and extinguishing systems, together with a wider appreciation of the benefits to be gained from paying greater attention to preventing fires from occurring. This revised guidance takes those changes into account. The opportunity has also been taken to rearrange the basic layout of the document.

The guidance does not go into the detail of all of the international fire safety regulations and rules that have to be designed into a modern offshore vessel, instead being intended to give readers an overview of the subject and to make it clear how they should look at the risks and hazards associated with the occurrence of machinery space fires offshore.

As well as an outline of current international legislation, the authors have attemped to address risk assesssment and management procedures that operators have to apply when considering fires on board their ships. In addition, case studies give examples of fire incidents and draw attention to advice issues by authorities as a result of these incidents. The remainder of the document discusses the methods of, firstly, preventing fires from occurring and then how to detect and extinguish them if they do happen. References are also provided throughout to useful guidance and other information sources in the public domain.

Contents

• Background
• Introduction
• Regulations and guidance
• Likelihood and risk of engine room fires
• Engine room fire case studies
• Methods of preventing fires
• Methods of detecting fires
• Methods of extinguishing fires
• Personnel experience and training
• Experience and viewpoints of IMCA members
• Lessons learned
• Useful sources of information