Enclosed spaces - recognising the hazard

摘要

One of the points made by Dr Nippin Anand's excellent article on Enclosed Space Operations (Seaways October 2015), was the failure of many enclosed space drills on ships to adequately deal with the risks and hazards involved. Along with many others I feel frustrated by the ongoing sequence of enclosed space incidents, and I would like to add the following comments. One of the major reasons for enclosed space fatalities is the failure of individuals to realise there is a hazard to be risk assessed in the first place. By 'risk assessment' I refer to the on-the-spot assessment that individuals make before they do something that could be dangerous, as opposed to a formal paper exercise. This lack of awareness of a potentially fatal hazard should be addressed as part of each enclosed space drill. It should also be addressed by the ship's overall safety management system.