The only specialised marine publication in Oceania that focuses on the maritime industry, from super yachts to small craft to large commercial ships, including coastal shipping, tugs, tow boats, barges, ferries, tourist, sport-fishing craft
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Fire fighters working to control the Ocean Breeze fire at the port of Lyttelton FIRE BELOW F ire on board a vessel at any time is serious stuff. The blaze may be started from the smallest of sources, such as a cigarette in a waste bin to an exhaust leak that sets fire to the trunking – or even spontaneous combustion. Whatever the source of ignition, the result is heat and smoke, normally acrid smoke that quickly fills the vessel reducing the options of fire fighting without the use of breathing equipment. Most seafarers are trained in shipboard fire fighting and these drills, while tiresome, should be readily practiced. This includes getting non essential crew and passengers to the muster stations and performing head counts. With the number of recent fires on vessels at sea or in repair yards, it is timely to revisit the requirements for having a hot works repair policy attached to your insurance policy. Failure to do so may result in expensive claims being rejected. Every ship or vessel owner needs to be aware of his responsibilities. If using yard tradesmen owners must ask themselves, do the tradesmen carry a sufficient Ship Repairers Liability policy? While a fire at sea may often lead to the loss of the ship and such claims will be between the owner and insurer, a well trained crew may save the ship at sea or reduce damage until help arrives. Meanwhile, we are seeing an increasing number of fires on board vessels resulting from hot works during a selfmaintenance or refit period. This equally applies to small craft as well. The recent on board ship fires in Lyttelton and Auckland are the latest of a number of fires in shipyards over the past several years. A common theme is that the fires were caused by subcontractors, and in the case of the ship repairers were the result of welding operations being carried out in breach of regulations that were even outside the shipyard's own protocols. A recent shipyard fire on a superyacht started in an area where sub-contracted painters had mixed fillers and paint. While the exact cause is not known, it's most probably the result of an exothermic reaction. This incident sits somewhere outside the 24 Professional Skipper July/August 2013 BY KEITH INGRAM norm, in that welding was not involved. Sub-contractors are generally covered under a ship builder's policy and there is no available recourse against them from the insurer of the vessel being built – this highlights the impact that any fire can have in a shipyard and the resultant impact on the yard owners and their employees. Let us now look at the recent fires on large deep sea fishing ships while in dock or alongside under repair. There are clear Occupational Health and Safety issues in these cases as the ship is under repair and as such any hot works carried out must be done in accordance with best practice, accepted policies and the insurers' policy conditions. Such practices include maintaining a boundary fire watch, having fire extinguishers at hand as a first line of defence, ventilation and suitable boundary cooling may also be required, with a fire watch being maintained for two hours after the final welding or hot works. Should a fire occur, the ship owner or his insurer would invariably be seeking to recover their loss from the person or persons and/or the company involved in causing the damage. The first point of recovery is the primary contractor who in turn would seek recovery from any sub-contractor. Unfortunately for the ship repairer, the standard liability policy for ship repairers issued both in New Zealand and overseas have exclusions clauses for damage arising from "hot work" where there has been a failure to observe regulations or prudent work practice. Various insurers say this in different ways and we understand this to be in graphic detail in the policy clauses fine print. For example: In respect of any welding or hot work (welding and gas cutting work) carried out on behalf of the insured on, to, or near any vessel or craft, compliance with the following is expected; "The insured shall ensure that all relevant New Zealand Standards or Precautions or Port or Statutory or Local Body rules or regulations with respect to welding work are complied with, in particular without limiting the generality of the forgoing". www.skipper.co.nz