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Good housekeeping & safe working practice for general cargo ship at sea

General guideline : All ships move in a seaway and as space is very limited aboard any vessel, good housekeeping is essential for safe working/access and hygiene control. Attention should be paid in particular to the following areas:

i) safe and secure stowage of loose items

ii) proper securing of doors etc.

iii) good maintenance of fittings and fixtures

iv) adequate illumination of all work/transit areas

v) avoidance of overloading of electrical circuits especially in cabins

vi) clear and legible signs/operational notices

vii) proper clearance and disposal of garbage/ waste materials


Housekeeping in Engine room

Good housekeeping on board leads to a safe environment, the engine room being no exception. It is good practice to maintain the engine room in a clean condition and free of loose bottom plates or trip hazards. An oily main engine casing, oil in the bilges, loose oily plates or hoses lying around, is bad practice and does not encourage crew safety or reduce fire risks. Such a situation will certainly go against the ship during an inspection.


Galley working condition

Apart from being considered poor hygienic standards, wearing open slippers or sandals in the galley will, sooner or later, result in personal injury. There is also no protection from burns or scalds if hot or boiling water is spilt. Proper galley attire and slip-resistant safety shoes must be worn at all times, when working in the galley.


Securing gas bottles at sea

Oxygen and acetylene bottles must be stored apart, in dedicated storage. The area should be clearly marked, free of combustible materials, not exposed to salt or other corrosive chemicals, well-ventilated and outside the accommodation and engine room spaces. Industrial oxygen cylinders are painted blue, whilst acetylene cylinders are painted maroon. They should be stored with their valve ends up and valve caps remaining firmly on cylinders that are not connected for use. Full and empty cylinders must always be segregated. The storage arrangements are usually checked during third party ship inspections.


Cleaning dirty bilge area

Oily Engine room bilges pose a potential safety and pollution risk, besides being a fire hazard. They should be kept clean and free of oil at all times and, ideally, painted a light colour so that fresh oil leaks can easily be identified. Whilst dirty bilges indicate a clear lack of adequate maintenance, it may also result in the vessel being detained by port state control inspectors.






Other useful articles :
  1. Rope handling safe procedure

    2. Ropes are made of short fibres that are spun into yarns, which are then made into flat or twisted strands. And the strands are spun or braided to make the finished rope .
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  2. Synthetic man-made ropes and hawsers

    3. Although natural fibre ropes are still widely used throughout the marine industry, they have been superseded by synthetic fibres for a great many purposes. Not only do the majority of synthetic ropes have greater strength than their natural fibre counterparts, but they are more easily obtainable and at present considerably cheaper.
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  3. Natural fibre rope

    4. All natural fibre rope is manufactured from manilla, sisal, hemp, coir, cotton or flax fibres.The process of manufacture consists of twisting the fibres into yarns and turning the yarns in an opposite direction to establish the strands.
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  4. Prepare cargo holds prior loading

    5. Washing is always carried out after the compartment has been swept. Drying time for washed compartments must be allowed for, before loading the next cargo; this time will vary with the climate, but two to three days must be expected.
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  5. Strength and stability of the Lifting appliances

    6. The vessel's structure, crane, derrick or other lifting device and the supporting structure should be of sufficient strength to withstand the loads that will be imposed when operating at its maximum load moment .
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  6. Anchoring safe practice

    7. Prior approaching an area for anchoring ships master should investigate fully a suitable anchoring position and conduct a planned approach including speed reduction in ample time and orienting the ships head prior anchoring to same as similar sized vessels around or stem the tide or wind whichever is stronger . Final decision to be made on method of anchoring to be used , the number of shackles , the depth of water, expected weather and holding ground. .
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  7. MacGregor single-pull weather-deck hatch cover

    8. Hatch covers are used to close off the hatch opening and make it watertight. Wooden hatch covers, consisting of beams and boards over the opening and covered with tarpaulins, were once used but are no longer fitted. Steel hatch covers, comprising a number of linked steel covers, are now fitted universally. Various designs exist for particular applications, but most offer simple and quick opening and closing, which speed up the cargo handling operation..
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  8. Cargo holds access arrangement

    9. The access shall be separate from the hatchway opening, and shall be by a stairway if possible. A fixed ladder, or a line of fixed rungs, shall have no point where they fill a reverse slope .
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  9. Lay of Ropes and hawsers - Small Stuff descriptions

    10. The lay of rope is a term used to describe the nature of the twist that produces the complete rope .The most common form of rope at sea is known as ‘hawser laid rope’ comprising three strands laid up right- or lefthanded.
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  10. Stresses in ship structures and how to mitigate

    11. Heavy weights tend to cause a downward deflection of the deck area supporting the load .This subsequently produces stresses, with consequent inward and outward deflections of supporting bulkheads, depending on the position of initial loading .
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  11. Lifting appliances - Maintenance, testing, controls & safety measures

    12. When there is any suspicion that any appliance or item of equipment may have been subjected to excessive loads, exceeding the Safe Working Load (SWL), or subjected to treatment likely to cause damage, it should be taken out of service until it can be subjected to a thorough examination by a competent person.
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  12. Safe operation of Lifting appliances and gears

    13. All lifting operations must be properly planned, appropriately supervised and carried out to protect the safety of workers.
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