Incidents in enclosed spaces have been a serious problem for many years within the operation and management of ships.
Unfortunately, the number of these accidents has not decreased, even in recent years. This is despite the issuance of International Safety Management (ISM) code and the inclusion of detailed procedures and precautions of enclosed space in the safety management manuals produced by all shipping companies.
An example was the chemical tanker Chem Hana where the Chief Officer and Deck Hand A tragically lost their lives. The suspected direct cause of death was asphyxiation due to inadequate oxygen.
Analysis of the causes of this incident revealed many similarities with prior accidents also involving enclosed spaces:
◼ Lack of awareness of the danger of the tank interior
– Chief Officer apparently was not aware that the tank interior was dangerous or at least, was only slightly aware of the potential danger.
◼ Improper procedures for entering an enclosed space
– No request for a permission form to enter an enclosed space was made.
– There was no measurement of air in the enclosed space and ventilation.
◼ There was no risk management or meeting prior to toolbox meeting
SOL-X provides a holistic approach to the Control Of Work and Crew Wellbeing to improve safety outcomes and “human reliability” with our SOL-X and SmartWatch. Some of the preventative measures offered by our solution, which could have avoided this tragedy from happening:
🔹 Integrated Control Of Work
– Enclosed space monitoring which includes automatic updates to permit validity, near real entry status, logged gas readings, viewed permit information etc.
🔹 Compliance Safeguards
– Ensures the right person at the right place at the right time conducting each task
🔹 Situational awareness
– Improves situational awareness with geofencing and near real time notifications for hazardous tasks.
– Seek assistance quickly with Crew Assist especially in remote situation