26 Enclosed Space Entry Any death from enclosed space entry on a ship is pointless and a terrible waste of life A lot has been said about this subject in books, DVDs, SMSs and company memos and yet it still happens Make sure it does not on your ship My one experience of this was when I was a cadet We were finishing smoko ready to go down into an oil tank that had been opened early that morning The carpenter was having coffee with us and told us to take our time finishing the coffee and that he would go on and get things ready in the tank We thought no more about it until we arrived at the top of the tank and, looking down, saw his body Luckily the senior cadet stopped any attempt to enter the tank and called for assistance The Chief Officer duly arrived and, using the BA set, the corpse was hooked up to the crane and lifted out That incident has always stood out in my memory and I am pleased to say I have never had any accident during my time as Chief Officer or Captain 152 I think one problem with enclosed spaces is in their definition and the difficulty of those on the ship to distinguish between shore and sea After all, who mentions or worries about enclosed spaces ashore Does Granny think twice before going in the coal shed? I remember a sanitary worker wanting to go into a cesspit on my property and was quite bemused when I prevented him until it had been completely ventilated I am not going to enumerate all the precautions here but will ask that you think about fresh air, which is a basic requirement to the functioning of our bodies A human being requires an atmosphere of 20.9% oxygen and 78% nitrogen for wellbeing Any space that has less that 20.9% oxygen is dangerous and will eventually be fatal Most substances give off gases of some kind or other, even the bulkheads of an empty space can that, so any space that has been closed for some time without any ventilation must be considered dangerous Somehow you must get this through to those onboard Following a rigorous risk assessment will certainly help, but familiarity tends to creep into this system unless you insist upon it The oxygen meter should be a normal part of equipment for crew and all crew should be required to operate and understand it One day, in the distant future, all enclosed spaces onboard ship will have an automatic detection and warning system, but at the moment this is not the case so we have to rely on our common sense Work on the principle that all spaces that have been closed for any period of time, especially those with seals such as tanks and stores with weather or storm doors, are potentially dangerous Finally, establish a list of all enclosed spaces on the ship, even what may be considered stupid places, such as the broom cupboard Then make a risk assessment for each and every space with colour coding The broom cupboard can be graded as safe and need not be of concern, unless toxic cleaning fluids are also stored there, but any other spaces with higher grades must require care The higher the grade the more care For all spaces requiring care put the colour grade 153 on the door Permission must be obtained from the bridge to enter certain specific colour graded compartments The bridge will keep a list of these spaces and each time they are entered will log the date so that the ship has a record Very quickly it will become apparent which compartments are seldom entered and, therefore, which are the most dangerous All this might seem a nuisance but, if it saves a life, it is surely worth the bother This is that just a suggestion to try to deal with the problem in a way safeguards a new and unwary crew member, as he is the most vulnerable Of course, a storeroom that is categorised safe and then has a chemical spilled inside, giving off toxic gases, can be lethal to anyone entering 26.1 Enhanced Survey Programme Although the tanks will be surveyed by Class as part of this programme, many companies now require them to go through a periodic survey by the ship's staff Obviously, this inspection is not as thorough as that done by the Class surveyors, but it does mean that if there is any major problem developing it should be identified Entering the tanks to inspect for corrosion and cracking of the steelwork is a filthy job taking up a considerable amount of your time It is very tempting to simply tick the box but this inspection is very important, particularly on older ships There are certain precautions you must take Good ventilation is essential, as are detection meters for oxygen and other gases Never enter on your own, and ensure that at the top of the access there is a crewman standing by The personal communicators you carry may not work well in such spaces so ensure that there is a chain of communication that keeps you in touch with the deck Have a BA set standing by in case this is needed 154 If you have never entered the tanks of a double hulled vessel before it can be a strange experience, particularly when on 300,000 dwt ships It is like a vast coalmine divided into a multitude of sections with crawl through lightening holes and, after a few sections you are in a dark silent world under the sea Rather than a note-book, take a voice recorder, as it is not easy to write in such conditions, particularly with working gloves on Ensure that your beam lights are newly charged It is very unpleasant to find yourself in pitch black darkness in such a place Identify the sections, by a sequence of letters and match these to the plans when you emerge Take a surveyor's hammer with you to knock the scale away to look for cracks Don't be taken in by the scale Recently, on a small 500 dwt ship we took out tons of scale from two tanks and still the steelwork was acceptable It is stress cracks that you are really looking for 155 156