I am a relief Engineer on a major cruise line and the accepted means of lock-out or as they call it “isolation” is horrifying and I cannot seem to figure out why. I believe WCB would fine these ships if these practices were conducted locally, or maybe I’m just been paranoid?
How it works,
The normal practice is, if a piece of equipment needs to be isolated or locked out for maintenance/repair it is a simple call to the ECR and tell whom ever picks up the phone (it could be me or my junior) and asks the Watchkeeper to isolate the equipment. Most likely, the junior watchkeeper will then go down and Isolate the equipment and call back to the ECR and confirms the equipment is isolated. If the work load permits, he will then return to the ECR and fill in the isolation book (which is only used and read by watchkeeprs at hand over).
The obvious problems with this system are;
• The person performing the work does not witness or test the lock out
• No signs, tags or locks are ever applied,
• Communications is sometimes by radio which can be very poor i.e. Evap #4 and Evac #4 are almost impossible to tell apart. Or was that DG 2 3, 5 or 4. “I forgot” happens all the time.
On a major cruise ship, as you can imagine, been on the 8-12 watch and in port is just ciaos, taking on water, bunkers, lube and discharging sludge and numerous other activities all at the same time, it is so easy to get rushed and just forget an isolation or assume your Third has done it, hopfully done it correctly, and just has not made it up the control room and sign off the book.
Who is there right mind does not see serious flaws in this system??
De-isolating is just the same, all it requires is a phone call to the ECR from….well anyone to de-isoltes the equipment, not the person who has performed the work and again its by a phone or radio call to me or my Third to do the de-isolation. Keep in mind that there has now most likely been a watch change to add even further confuse things. So someone completely different will now do the de-isolation. (you can imagine the problem this causes and you would be correct) Also remember, once something has been de-isolated the PMS (power management system) computer controls all stop/starting functions, not the watchkeeper.
I Unfortunately, had my Third mistakenly, de-isolate the wrong Main Engine once, while people were still working on it!!! My First and Staff Chief were pretty upset and it resulted in the Third been breathalysed!!! (Talk about looking for a problem in the wrong area)
Permit to work you ask, what a joke, that is simply for hot work and tank entry.
The truly sad thing is, it will not be the British Officer whom will be killed or seriously injured but one the hard working, dedicated Filipino Motormen who are too nervous to speak up.
I have, “it is the accepted way, always has been and always will”… (was the reply I got)
Stay safe out there!!
