Fire Safety
All crew are to be made aware of the dangers of fire onboard. Use a checklist to manage your control measures / general fire prevention activities. The relevant checks are to be performed regularly. From the fire prevention standpoint, good housekeeping means the elimination of sources of fuel for fire, i.e. the elimination of fire breeding grounds.
Various housekeeping problem areas are listed below. All of these can be eliminated with a little effort:
- Make sure cleaning rags and flammable wastes are stored in covered metal containers.
- Store oil rags in covered metal cans. And dispose of them as soon as possible.
- Immediately dispose of used packing materials.
- Don’t store oil-soaked clothing or other flammables in crew lockers –spontaneous combustion is a real threat.
- Clean up leaks in oil piping and systems, and spilled oil or grease, immediately.
- Clean up oil spills on deck.
- Paints, solvents, etc should be stored in the paint locker when not in use.
- Inspect these containers frequently for damage and leakage.
- Don’t wear oil-soaked clothing if you can avoid it.
- Sufficient fire / smoke alarms must be installed, and tested on a regular basis.
