Five important safety measures you need to know onboard ship.

First of all, i will like to give the meaning or definition of the word SAFETY.  The word safety "is a condition of being protected safely from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury"


Everybody who newly join the ship, always wish to work and earn safely, but in some cases, you will find such person, placing his or her self on high risk while working(probably no safety officer around or wish to be free) . Always remember that, everyone onboard the ship are trained safety officer ; meaning you need to act to a direction in which you and your crew members will be safe.

On this article , we are going to list  five important ways in which ship crews most maintain safety onboard without waiting for any safety officer to correct or report you. But before i list them, i will like to give some live story of newly joined 4th engine.

 " the first day this young man joined the vessel, he went to the captain to submit his documents as been done onboard by regulations , then what captain asked this young man was ' what is fire triangle ' he tried to answer the question but behold  after 3 days onboard, during sailing,there was an emergency in engine room where everyone was busy and  the 3rd engineer sent him and cadet to open lube oil filter of the generator that just shutdown. Since the engine was just stopped, the 4th engineer was expected to put all safety precautions(putting on required PPE)  in place before opening , but he tried to open a hot filter without hand gloves, checking for pressure build up, etc and even the cadet remained him to open drain to check for pressure, but he didn't take the advice.... he opened and pressure was pushing out  very high in which hot oil started spreading to the exhaust of the other running generators , and in such condition, he left the cadet who was holding the cover ( trying to tight back) and ran to his cabin to change coverall "  No safety, and placing other lives at risk.

Watch keeper

what are the five ways to maintain safety onboard?

1)  Put on your personal protective equipment (PPE)


2) Always check line pressures before you open any close space


3) Vent any in close space before entering


4) Read instructions very carefully before using any equipment onboard


5)  Check for expiration dates  before using any drugs, food, etc.

Five Important ways to maintain pilot ladder to avoid accidents or loss of life at sea

What is Pilot ladder and it functions?

Ship Pilot ladder

Pilot ladder : This consist of a rope  ladder which constructed to  overseeing authorities, statutory requirements  ,which  it length comes from the main deck to the water line.  Pilot Ladders remain the most efficient way for pilots , other ship visitors to board vessel while at sea, on motion and even though this is a simple process improper to give rise to claims . i.e. serious injuries to pilots occasionally resulting in death.

                           Why pilots need to board the ship?

Pilots are required onboard the ship while the ship approaches to an unknown channels,  thereby pilots are to assist the captain in manoeuvering   the vessel across the channel and other critical areas.

                                                 Ways to maintain pilot ladders ? 

To reduce the accidents involving in pilot ladders, the ship crew most always follow below steps , to maintain the pilot ladder :

     - Inspections : ship crew or chief mate who is in charge of the deck most make sure that the pilot ladders are inspected and  kept very well (Planned maintenance ).

     - Defective Ropes and/or steps :  In many case, this point causes the highest accident , which always lead to death. Therefore, ship crew most pay very good attention to it, always check for the rope strength, defective  steps and try to change them.

      - Excessive freeboards :  sometimes, pilots board the ship in excessive freeboard, which need to extend the length of the ladder, in other to reach to the pilot boat, this is case, we most be careful while combining the ladders. ( or we can use a combination of the ship’s gangway and the pilot ladder) .

    - Observations:  failure to notice deterioration of the natural fiber ropes used in the pilot ladder construction or broken/torn chocks used to support the ladder steps can cause the ladder to give ways or cut under stress. 

    - Records : it is very imperative that the pilot ladders certification , periodic inspections, reports and most important records are very maintained on board by ship crews . this records most details the actual condition of the pilotladders.