Preventing Accidents In Engine Room- Standard Working

Procedure

Many accidents have been reported in the ship's engine room due to
engine failures or loss of power and the substandard working
procedure. Poor housekeeping and many other safety issues that
can be resolved would help improve the overall safety culture of a
ship. Summarized below are some necessary safety precautions for
working onboard machinery spaces. These procedures are only
indicative, not exhaustive and one must always be guided by
practices of good seamanship

Fig: Engine room arrangement -Main engine floor

Oily contaminated materials: All oil contaminated rags and other

material shall be placed in metal containers and disposed of ashore
when required (no dumping or incinerating).

Bilges: All pipe or pump leakages shall be repaired as soon as

possible to limit the amount of bilge water that needs separation
and eventually discharge overboard.

Engine Room Workshop: The engine room shall be kept tidy to

allow hot work when required. No storage of flammable material is
permitted. The personal protective equipment (PPE) shall be
prepared in place.

Special attention shall be paid to the following in the engine

room:

1. Floorplates and ladders shall be free form oil or grease and be

properly fixed to avoid tripping;
2. Exhaust manifolds on engines shall be properly insulated and
protected by metal;
3. Exhaust manifolds and ducts through the entire casing shall be
free from leakages;
4. When engine room is unmanned external entrances to the
engine room shall be locked except designated entrances;
5. Steam pipes and other hot surfaces shall be properly lagged;
6. Insulation contaminated by oil or other flammable products
shall be renewed;
7. No flammable material shall be left in buckets or open
containers;
8. Short sounding pipes and automatic closing arrangements
shall never be left open;
9. Bunker tank high level alarm shall be tested before each
bunkering operation and at least monthly;
10. Leakages of fuel and lube oil shall be contained as soon
as possible;
11. Thermometers and pressure gauges shall be tested and
calibrated on a sequential basis allowing all to be tested
annually;
12. Areas around fuel and lube oil heating and separating
areas shall be kept free from any accumulation of oil;
13. The operation of the bilge water separator shall be strictly
supervised by the Chief Engineer;
14. If any part of the fire detection system is temporarily
disengaged due to any repair, e.g. hot work in the area, this
shall be clearly mentioned on the work permit;
15. All rotating parts shall be kept protected;
16. Smoking is not allowed in the engine room; and
17. The incinerator shall be used as per manufacturer
guideline
 18. Monthly Safety Inspections to be carried out
19. Merchant Shipping regulations require every dangerous
part of a ship's machinery to be securely guarded unless it is
so positioned or constructed that it is as safe as if it were
securely guarded or is otherwise safeguarded.
20. The ISM Code requires companies to adopt a Safety
Management System (SMS) and ensure the SMS is understood
by staff, including training and guidance for safety systems.

Engine rooms by their very design are hazard areas to the unwary
or unfamiliar for all sorts of reasons automatically starting
machinery, loud noises, loud alarms, poorly indicated or signposted
escape routes, 'blind' areas with no exit, etc. It is suggested that
engine room emergency escape doors and exit routes should be
clearly highlighted using a fluorescent colour such as 'day glo'
orange or yellow or painting the door with 'tiger stripes'. Whatever
paint is used it should be a water based paint rather than an oil
based so as not to affect the properties of the class 'A' fire doors
that are always fitted to the engine room exits.

Any door that leads out from the engine room is effectively an
'emergency exit.' Some ladders in an engine room lead only to half
decks where measurement equipment or gauges are located, and
these areas may not lead to an escape route, so they should be
marked with a conspicuous NO EXIT sign. The most common escape
route is the vertical trunking from various levels in the engine room,
usually located forward and leading onto the open deck or right aft
from the stern tube area up to the airlock doors between the engine
room and the steering flat door. In the event of the engine room
being filled with smoke, even light smoke, the escape routes and
doors from the engine room may be obscured, and therefore they
should be more clearly indicated.