Mr. Cavo, trying to get some real information for you. You have helped in the past. I want to get my Tankerman out of continuity how is the best way
Answered in a private message. Not because it’s secret, but it’s off-topic for this discussion.
I don’t know how to get to you in private, my email is shearwaterchartersofpc@hotmail.com
To IM me,. click on the kid sticking the knife in the e socket. Then click on “Message.” You can get my response by clicking on the green envelope on your “S” icon in the upper right.
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Probably the single best avatar I’ve ever seen, by the way. Shockingly effective on so may levels. 
I’m not a legal advisor or even a licensed safety consultant, so I don’t engage in legal rule interpretation. As a simple seafarer, I answered your question and provided references based on which the relevant procedures applicable to me are developed. Furthermore, external inspections, as well as industry audits, refer to the same regulations.
Interesting statement, but unfortunately quite outdated, for nearly 30 years now, the watchword “work shall be done” has been replaced by “safety first”.
I don’t want off top too much, but I’m curious about how the new sector of maritime services related to the offshore wind industry will develop, given the work culture presented by colleagues. It’s worth recalling that the offshore oil and gas sector grappled with an unsuitable work culture for a significant duration, largely inherited from the fishing industry.
It was only after several spectacular incidents that the offshore sector introduced a zero-tolerance policy for unsafe acts.
Currently, in Europe, we are dealing with a similar situation in the booming sector of transport services for newly constructed and operated wind farms. The situation is further complicated by an even greater shortage of adequately qualified and trained seafarers, resulting in greater transfer of seafarers from the fishing sector, as well as small workboats and even yachts and pleasure boats. I’m not saying that they will be bad employees, but when someone purports to know better than the established procedures and declares their intentions to deviate, I can’t help but be concerned.
Far off the original topic but still an interesting conversation.
IMO the discussion about what is and isn’t a safe work practice comes down to three things:
- Is it forbidden by law?
- Does it lead to litigation?
- Is the company in good stead with their P&I club?
What are called in the USA “cheater bars” are not illegal according OSHA/USCG. Certainly not illegal on fishing vessels. If something is not illegal, it is legal. If the practice is unsafe it will lead to serious injury. Serious injury in the USA-maritime sector leads to expensive Jones Act litigation. This alone will curb a company’s unsafe work practices. More expensive yet is the effect on P&I club membership. Rack-up litigation and your P&I club will show you the door, and you are done as a company.
So how can it be that a company can exist for 40 years using cheater bars, with no associated litigation, and therefore remain a member in good standing with their P&I club?
The image below is of an Aleutian tender, aka freighter. The deck cargo was lashed down by the officers and crew. There are two more decks under this one loaded with palletized cargo, also lashed down or otherwise secured. The officers and crew do the work. They are experts in securing cargo. It must be able to survive 40 degree rolls in 40 foot seas. Something not unusual in the GOA.
Now, who are the experts in this kind of work? Who has expertise in sending cargo like this 4,000 miles across some of the roughest waters in the world, on a 260-foot long boat with a freeboard of sixteen feet? We are. (And many tug companies as well.)
Here are a few pages from the company’s Vessel Operation Manual re: lashing down cargo. Specifically, the use of binders/cheater bars. There are many other pages in this section of the VOM. How to lash down fiber. How to lash down autos. How to lash down crab pots. How to stow frozen cod livers, as opposed to frozen cod (gotta know the difference). Etc. Our mariners do it all, daily.
The VOM is based on 40 years of actual experience and in studying the injury statistics of the specific trade. None of it is cobbled from other books, or lawyers, or the internet, because none of those “experts” have expertise in the specifics.
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You guys should publish the VOM and sell it. I wish every vessel that heads north of Pt. Roberts had a hardcover set in the wheelhouse.
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Nice diagram that explains reality.
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A few years ago I was hired by a small company on a newly bought old boat to get it out of the shipyard in compliance with USCG requirements. They didn’t have a TSMS (Towing Safety Management System). This is the domestic tugboat version of ISM.
I contacted a consultant in Seattle that was writing TSMS for tug companies. He wanted $20,000 for a cut and paste TSMS.
That’s some skilled work to load, lash and deliver a load like that consistently without damage. The crew of the Snowbird never handled a load near that complicated and difficult. A lot simpler “back in the day”.
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The deck stow looks typical of a small general cargo ship running in the Island trade back in the day. Throw in a selection of every type of DG in the mix except class 7 and you had an interesting time as mate.
Nothing like assembling a crawler crane on a wharf with a bit of a surge in the port using the ships gear. It would have made a video worth keeping but all we knew was 8mm film. Getting the tracks on the crane was the hardest.
Unloading a 19 tonne airport fire tender onto two lighters lashed together and sending it through a narrow reef entrance had its moments. HR would have been horrified.
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I did 1 1/2 year (1968-70) of that from Australia to the Melanesia islands incl. New Caledonia, Lord How and Norfolk Islands.
That was followed by 1/12 year (1971-72) from Singapore to East Indonesia, incl. Irian Barat (now West Papua)
Or doing that with a dump truck onto two surf boats tied together while drifting outside the reef, then surf onto the beach to offload. (Lord How Island, 1969)
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I take nothing away from those trading to Alaska. At least in the island trade clad in a pair of shorts and T shirt we enjoyed warm waters and sunlit seas. Yes I know coveralls, helmet and safety glasses are now required and we know the dangers of skin cancer.