SPECIALISED

Once a crew infrastructure has been implemented, a solid mustering system must be introduced; one which provides the roll call Officer with the highest percent chance of identifying the mustered crew successfully. Through vast experience of running hundreds of onboard simulated drills, Bluebeast has identified the major weaknesses in these critical areas and has developed the optimum program to correct and fine tune the capabilities required for successful command and control. These includes the following:

EMERGENCY STATIONS LIST (Development & Optimisation)

MUSTERING (Roll call & Identification)

BRIDGE COMMAND (Organisation & Control)

INCIDENT COMMAND (Organisation & Control)

These four specific elements provide the backbone to the Emergency Preparedness System and should be integrated within every vessel. Once achieved, each department must be controlled by an Officer with sufficient knowledge and leadership qualities to control the situation and his crew. This is of paramount importance and regardless of how many remote capabilities a vessel may have, it will be human decisions that will ultimately decide the outcome of any ship fire. Ship's Officers possess great knowledge with regard to vessel operations and to ask them to become specialists in marine fire fighting is impracticle and unrealistic. They can however attain the necessary competence through personal instruction and training aids that will raise their performance to the required level as follows;

MODULE 1: BRIDGE COMMAND - Incorporating the use of a Fire Control Plan, ISM Check List, Incident Logging, BA Control, Communications, Casualty Handling and Contingency Planning

MODULE 2: INCIDENT COMMAND A - Incorporating the use of a BA Control log, planning and brief for fire-fighting team and communications

Officer: CHIEF MATE

MODULE 3: INCIDENT COMMAND B - Incorporating the use of an Incident Control log, planning and brief for boundary cooling, ventilation, contingencies and communications

Officers: 2ND or 3RD MATE

MODULE 4: INCIDENT COMMAND C - Incorporating the use of a Technical Control log, ventilation, power isolation, fire pump/s, contingencies and communications

Officers: CHIEF ENGINEER, ELECTRICIAN and/or ASSISTANT ENGINEER

These four Modules are completed within one day and segregated into four sessions with the appropriate personnel. We will provide all of the necessary technical sheets including the BA Control Log, the Incident Control Log, the Technical Control Log, ISM Check List, Incident Log which have all been developed by Bluebeast Marine Fire Management and Fire-Aid International training LTD. In addition we will provide comprehensive instruction in using the fire control plan on the Bridge. This will be used to control man management, deployment, boundary cooling, boundary starvation, entry/exit points, fire line/s, ventilation closure (dampers and vents etc), casualty handling station and contingencies.

SCBA Breathing Apparatus

In our experience, this is the most  neglected piece of equipment in terms of application and maintenance. The self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) is what stands between the life and death of a fire-fighter when entering an atmosphere of toxic smoke and gas. This hazardous environment is particularly prevelant on a ship which is compartmentalised and sealed down when a fire develops.

SOLAS Convention Part E
Operational requirements

Regulation 14
Operational readiness and maintenance

2.1 Operational readiness -  2.1.2 Fire-fighting systems and appliances (including fireman's outfits and equipment) shall be kept in good working
order and readily available for immediate use.

2.2 Maintenance, testing and inspections
2.2.1 Maintenance, testing and inspections shall be carried out based on the
guidelines developed by the Organization and in a manner having due
regard to ensuring the reliability of fire-fighting systems and appliances.
2.2.2 The maintenance plan shall be kept on board the ship and shall be
available for inspection whenever required by the Administration.

It is a statutory requirement for Breathing Apparatus to undergo "after use" procedures and be stowed ready for immediate operation. This must  also include monthly inspections which are recorded in the form of logs and stored with the BA units. On every vessel attended, 99% of every BA unit inspected is found with some or all of the following faults:

• Partial or empty cylinder contents
• Valve left partially or fully open
• Face mask dirty, scratched and unprotected
• Unmarked empty/full cylinders mixed together
• Incompatible units used together (positive/negative) with different working durations
• No after use logs or service/maintenance logs
• Safety Officer with very limited knowledge of the equipment