The Deepwater Horizon tragedy teaches the general public and regulators about the safety culture in the offshore industry and the environmental risk associated with deepwater drilling.  As a seagoing professional, here are five things you can do to keep you safer while working at sea.

Proximity And Preparedness

The physical and mental state of the Deepwater Horizon survivors varied considerably from minor cuts and burns to traumatic head injury and panic. The extent of these injuries where directly related to two factors; proximity to the initial explosions and personal preparedness.

Brent Mansfield, the rig’s 1st Engineer and graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy, was as well trained as anyone on the rig in emergency procedures yet he was the most critically injured with a deep fracture to his skull. That night Mansfield was in the Engine Control Room adjacent to the first explosion which occurred in a main diesel generator. There is little Brent could have done to avoid his injuries, his physical proximity to the explosion being the primary cause of his injuries.

The second most critically injured that night was Buddy Trahan who had suffered multiple bone fractures and significant burns after being pinned beneath a cabinet near the explosion. The fractures Trahan received where directly related to his proximity to the blast but the burns might have been avoided if he had been wearing fire resistant coveralls.

Lower on the list of injured persons was the rig’s OIM who had been taking a shower in his cabin, a fair distance from the first explosion. According to his testimony he found a towel and some clothes but struggled to find his boots and coveralls in the darkness of his cabin. He had no communication with the bridge and, therefore, was unaware of the dangers he would encounter. During his escape to the bridge subsequent explosions blew insulation and debris onto him, essentially tar and feathering his body and rendering him functionally blind.

Apart from their initial proximity to the flames a second factor determined the types of injuries these three individuals suffered, the time between knowledge of a problem and the time of injury. Brent Mansfield had the shortest interval of time with only seconds between high gas alarms sounding and unconsciousness. He had no time to prepare. Buddy Trahan, having checked in with the subsea engineer minutes before the explosion,  was the first to know something was wrong that night yet he did not know the immediacy of the problem in time to don coveralls or other PPE that would have prevented burns. The OIM was relatively safe in his cabin during the first blast with a modest amount of time to prepare himself yet he received his injuries during the escape.

Mansfield had no time or options but Trahan’s burns could have been prevented if company policy mandated coveralls inside the accommodation but, in reality, he had few options to protect himself. The OIM’s injuries however where completely avoidable. This article is not an indictment of the OIM’s actions, I personally would have faired no better, or that of the crew. Rather, I am writing about it so others can learn the important lessons of that night which include:

(1) Time, Distance and Shielding – The critical factors of survival

In CBRD training mariners working aboard navy supply ships are taught that during a nuclear, chemical or biological strike three factors are critical to your survival:

Time – The Longer you remain in the area, the higher your risk of fatal expose.
Distance – The further away you are from the incident, the more likely you are to survive.
Shielding – Be it a what you where (e.g. Fireman’s or Chemical Exposure Suit) or where you are located (e.g. standing behind a thick steel bulkhead or water curtain) the more physical barriers between you and the incident, the more likely you are to survive.

The same is true of blow-outs, fires and other emergencies aboard your vessel. To be safe you want to take action quickly and remain within reach or danger for as little time as possible (time). You want to distance yourself first from the blast area then, with abandonment, from the ship itself (distance). Last you want to wear PPE and keep physical protection between yourself and danger.

The lack of time, distance and shielding proved fatal for 11 men and where primary factors in the injuries of all persons that night. Make sure you are aware of these factors and use the knowledge to plan your escape.

(2) PPE – Personal Protective Equipment

Had a spare set of coveralls been hanging in the subsea office Trahan visited he might have put them on and prevented burns. The same applies if company policy had mandated that he wore them inside the accommodations. Personally I do not wear PPE inside the accommodations and do not think companies should start mandating this but it is important for all companies and individuals to ask “What If?”. Do not assume any area aboard your vessel is safe, consider the danger and develop plans to mitigate risk.

What if your xx happens aboard your vessel in proximity to yy? Brainstorm ideas today to be prepared for tomorrow.

(3) Communication

As fire team leader I keep my radio near me at all times including at night where it charges within reach of my bed. The radio remains off much of the time but, if the general alarm starts to ring, I can quickly turn it on and start learning about the emergency from the second I wake up. Time is a critical factor.

If you are a team leader and wait until you’re at your muster station to call the bridge or, worst yet, you wait for the bridge to call you - you’re are wasting valuable time. Keeping a radio nearby at all times to get yourself up to speed fast and put your mind immediately on the problems confronting you.

(4) Availability of gear

An emergency gear locker is of no use if a fire is between your team and their gear. Make sure your vessel has multiple lockers and that, at least, one is available in all conceivable situations to don’t require immediate abandonment of the ship.

If your company is unwilling to buy additional equipment you need to take action on an individual level by identifying potential fire zones near the lockers. Determine alternate access points to the gear. You should also determine the availability of equipment elsewhere on the ship. Does the vessel have a safety gear locker with spares? Does the engine room have an ax and crowbar? It will be much easier to find this equipment if you know where it is located before the fire starts to burn.

(5) Availability of PPE

More important than the radio near my bed is the flashlight hanging next to it. If the ship loses power you will not have time to look through drawers to find the flashlight.

But a flashlight is not enough. Hanging behind my door are the following:

1 set of fire resistant coveralls – with gloves, a flashlight and knife tucked in the pockets
1 pair of eye protection & hardhat
1 pair of steel toe boots with socks tucked inside

This spare set of PPE is critical to your survival and, had it been available, would have saved the OIM from injury. But remember, time is critical, to be effective the gear needs to be hanging, neat and organized, in your cabin not stowed away in drawers drawers.

Further this equipment need to be in addition to your work clothes! The fire resistant coating on your coveralls becomes less effective each time it is washed so your spare set should be in “like new” condition. You also don’t want your gear to be in the laundry or in the change room when crisis emerges – it must be hanging in your room and ready to don.

Gear To Abandon Ship
Many ships have an emergency grab bag packed with an EPIRB, handheld VHF, flashlights and other supplies to assist you we it is necessary to abandon ship. It is time that we all update this bag with the right gear.

When the Deepwater Horizon exploded in April of this year there was little need for such a grab bag as the workboat Damon Bankston was ready and available to haul in survivors. Yet a few items would have been helpful. Had an extra EPIRB been available and tossed in the water at the time of abandonment, its natural drift would have given search and rescue personnel an estimate of where to look for survivors. The second item is a handheld satellite phone, these are now relatively cheap and provide a level of communication with shore that can not be matched by radio.

When was the last time you looked in your abandon ship bag? Do you even have one? Today is the time to consider the usefulness of each item contained in that bag and to fill it with additional supplies that may be needed.

From hurricanes to tsunami’s earthquakes, today’s levels of population growth coupled with global climate change is putting an increasing number of people at risk. What is not changing rapidly is the development and implementation of ideas to mitigate crisis.

What seems most promising is the idea that, rather than create new plans for new problems, borrow the ideas and resources from others. A good example of this is technology. Nearly two years ago we mentioned the use of Twitter to help locate victims and coordinate response efforts during crisis. Twitter already worked great for locating friends at nearby bars, so it was just a matter of rethinking it’s use as an emergency tool.

So what other systems are already in place to provide rapid support on a global scale? Specific to this blog… What maritime systems are already in place to provide rapid support on a global scale? In a post titled Urgent Solutions ~ Fast, Flexible, Scalable, Now, Joost Bonsen suggests the use of continerized solutions to support relief efforts in Haiti. He writes:

I’ve written before about the usefulness of containerized infrastructure and floating infrastructure – e.g. hospital ships, power generation barges, containerized health clinics, and more. Devastation in post-quake Port-au-Prince — and, btw, in other disaster-struck or war-ravaged recovery zones — demands that we invest heavily in ramping up and deploying many more of these urgent solutions, certainly as an essential part of rebuilding Haiti properly. Here’s further examples of fast, flexible, scalable, and re-deployable container-systems which are all needed now. First of all, water desalination and purification, for instance this HOH-USA unit…

While the idea has merit you must also consider the logistics involved in locating and transporting highly specialized containers. First, ships do not move at great speed and it takes time to load them. Second, finding containers designed for special missions and relocating them to a single port is a time consuming task regardless of the availability of a ship to put them on.

But the truth is that this idea is already being effectively implemented on a global scale by the US military in the form of prepositioned ships. For those unfamiliar with the program, propositioned vessels are commercial ships contracted by the military to sit idle at locations throughout the world. Although these ships rarely move, they are crewed with a full compliment of mariners and loaded down with all the items needed by troops engaged in conflict (Trucks, generators, food, desalination plants, medical supplies…) The thought being that, if a war breaks out, ships will be nearby and ready to supply the military at a moments notice.

If the idea works for the military, why couldn’t it work for humanitarian missions? I propose that, along with the Army and Navy, that the US Coast Guard be given a budget for prepositioning ships throughout the world. The cargo aboard these ships, however similar, would have a distinctly different mission… to be always ready so others might live.

IBISeye.com tracks any active tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane with accompanying news and any watches or warnings. Click on the map to interact.

Weather Underground provides forecasts for the US and the world with a fast, easy to use interface. The site is full weather maps, graphics and radar images, including a great tropical weather section with satellite maps, sea surface temperatures and hurricane advisories.

Of course NOAA has some of the most extensive, accurate and up to minute information to help track storms and provides official US weather, marine, fire and aviation forecasts, warnings, meteorological products, climate forecasts and information about meteorology.  NOAA’s National Hurricane Center will provide you with everything you need to know to stay safe and knowledgable.

The US Navy NOGAPS Weather Forecast is another great resource for tracking storms with information provided by the US Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System.

Of the countless sites out there to help track weather, these are just a few of our favorites, so hopefully this will help everyone with their hurricane tracking needs.  After all the best way to stay safe is to stay informed so if anyone out there knows any other great resources you prefer, we would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

LINKS:

IBISeye.com Hurricane Tracking

Weather Underground’s Tropical Weather Page

NOAA’s National Hurricane Center

US Navy NOGAPS Forecast

All these links can also be found in gCaptain Tools Section

If we only had one technology related wish for 2008 it would be that every mariner watched this video. Reminder: This is important people!

FROM WIRED:

While micro-messaging service Twitter may be one of the best tools for citizen reporting in emergencies such as the Southern California wildfires, the service’s real usefulness is its ability to get messages to users’ friends and family and provide evacuation updates — even when cell networks are overloaded, according to homeland security consultant W. David Stephenson.

As important as the updates you wrote about, they’re nowhere near as important as using Twitter to let your family know you’re ok (instead of cell calls, which every time they’re used in disasters end up crashing the network — and don’t get through, either): because they’re packet based, they’re cued up until they can route around obstacles or gaps in the network, and the 140-character limit means they take up a tiny amount of bandwidth, leaving it for those who need it most.

Even cooler, Stephenson tells THREAT LEVEL, are the Red Cross’s Twitter channels.

* The redcross channel lets them push information during a mass evacuation. Since cellphone customers can sign up for Twitter ‘on the fly,’ they will encourage evacuees to text ‘FOLLOW REDCROSS’ to 40404, and sign up for updates. The messages will include information about where the shelters are, distribution sites, and other contact info.

* The safeandwell channel is used more for inbound communication. Those who text ‘FOLLOW SAFEANDWELL’ to 40404 will automatically be followed back. That means they can send their private information as a Direct Message to the American Red Cross. (’D SAFEANDWELL Larry Melman, 205-xxx-xxxx, 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Bay Minette, is safe in a shelter.’) That maintains the privacy of the individual, and also serves to funnel the information to a centralized database.

Stephenson shows how to use Twitter in emergencies in this episode of his video series 21st Century Disaster Tips You Won’t Hear From Officials:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Jesse Robbins for the find.

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