Poor condition of on-board equipment

During ‘safety walk arounds’ on one of our Members’ vessels, certain equipment was seen to be in poor condition.

In the first case, a fire blanket in the galley; in the second, a portable step ladder.

A galley fire blanket had been used for fire extinguishing and packed away again, but no incident report was made of a fire having taken place.  It was clear that the fire blanket had not been inspected for a long period of time.

What were the causes? – Procedures not followed:

• Our Member's internal instructions for Master’s inspections and fire prevention requirements had not been followed.
• There had been no weekly inspection of fire blankets conducted by crew despite procedural requirements to do so.

What actions were taken?

• When conducting any inspection, ensure that all items on the inspection checklist are thoroughly checked – not ‘just a tick box exercise’.
• Any incident (such as a small fire in this case) however trivial should be reported immediately.
• Further inspections of all on-board safety equipment was indicated in this case.

A damaged ladder was observed as in use on the vessel deck during vessel walk around.  Further inspection revealed another ladder in similar condition in regular use.

What went wrong?

• Signs of corrosion on ladder.
• Plastic support missing on bottom of ladder's legs.

What were the causes? – Procedures not followed:

• No regular and pre-use inspection of ladders established on-board.
• Fall prevention requirements not followed: inspect all ladders and lifting equipment regularly and perform the required maintenance.

What actions were taken?

• All on-board ladders to be inspected, numbered and labelled monthly.
• All damaged ladders to be removed from vessels and replacements ordered.
• Crew to be refreshed on the importance of conducting pre-start checks on all ladders.