Page 60 - Layout 1

P&I Claims Analysis

Prevention

Engine room ires:
Prevention is best achieved by preventing any leak in the irst place and is best served by ensuring that

engineers and oilers are properly trained and supervised when undertaking their work and that work is checked

on completion. This good maintenance practice should, of course, extend to work being carried out on all heat
producing equipment in the engine room. Boilers and incinerators, for example, also have that dangerous mix of

available fuel and a good ignition source.

Electrical ires:
Engine room training, supervision and checking protocols can help reduce the likelihood of a ire occurring, and

if the latter, properly planned maintenance and monitoring, including the use of thermal imaging, can identify

developing faults before they become too serious.
Hot work:

In many cases this combustible material is waste, such as rags (oily or otherwise). As these can be readily

ignited by even relatively weak sources of ignition, such as a lit cigarette butt, it goes without saying that good
housekeeping in an engine room is an essential.

The paper, Ship ires from the late Dr Eric Mullen container cargo, a situation which concerns the entire
highlights the most common immediate causes, but also industry. However, at the time of any incident it doesn’t

what needs to be done to prevent ires from happening. matter who was at fault - the ire needs to be extinguished.

These causes are nothing new, but ires still happen, and in The importance of following good working practices is
recent years there have been some extremely serious ires. essential in preventing ires.

Some of these ires have been caused by wrongly declared

www.swedishclub.com58