THE IMPORTANCE OF KILL CORDS REITERATED BY UK COASTGUARD FOLLOWING AN INCIDENT
The UK Coastguard has issued kill cord safety advice following a recent incident when two men were thrown from their speedboat in the afternoon of 12 July off the coast of Kent. The kill cord is designed to ‘kill’ a boat engine in case the driver goes overboard.
At around 2.25pm on 12 July, HM Coastguard received a number of 999 calls reporting that two men had been thrown from a speedboat, which then continued unmanned until it crashed into the sea wall at Minnis Bay Margate. The two men were rescued by the RNLI Lifeguards.
Margate Coastguard Rescue Team, Margate RNLI lifeboat, Minnis Bay RNLI Lifeguards and Kent Police were on scene and the two men, who were wearing lifejackets, were recovered from the water. They had not sustained any serious injuries.
Tony Evans, HM Coastguard Maritime Operations Specialist, said: “These two men have had a very lucky escape. Although they were wearing lifejackets, it would appear that they had a kill cord on the engine but neither of them was wearing it. With a busy beach nearby, the circumstances could have been very different, or indeed tragic, if the vessel had not crashed into the wall.”
On the aftermath of the incident, the HM Coastguard advised: – All owners and drivers of open powerboats, personal watercraft and RIBs should ensure that if their boat is fitted with a kill switch and kill cord, it is correctly used.
– On a powerboat the kill cord should be attached securely around the thigh and on a personal watercraft it should be attached to the buoyancy aid.
– Attach your kill cord before the engine is started, but certainly before the boat is put in gear where safe to do so.
– Stop the engine before transferring the kill cord to another driver. – Always check your kill cord works at the start of each day or session and remember to replace it when there are signs of ageing, or wear and tear or it starts to lose spiral tension.
– When replacing kill cords, buy the manufacturers genuine replacement kill cords. – Do not leave kill cords out in the elements. Extremes of temperature and UV light will harm the kill cord in the long term.
CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE THE CAUSE OF FIRE ON WIGHT SKY FERRY SAYS MAIB REPORT
At 2133 on 12 September 2017, while approaching Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, the ro-ro passenger ferry Wight Sky suffered a catastrophic failure of one of its Volvo Penta D16 main propulsion engines, followed by a fire. The fire was brought under control in less than 2 minutes, but the vessel’s engineer, who had been standing near the engine, suffered serious burn injuries to his hands and face.
Safety lessons – Rebuilding the engine and transporting it in parts to the engine room through an emergency escape rather than using the vessel’s deck opening, created the possibility of dirt ingress into the engine bearing lubricating channel
– The engine was not fitted with a wear detector, so there was no means of receiving a warning before the engine failed
– The essential services switchboard aft circuit breaker had been left in manual mode, resulting in the loss of power to critical equipment, including the fixed fire-fighting system
Recommendation A recommendation has been made to Volvo Penta UK to consider offering wear particle detection technology for marine engines that cannot be easily serviced on board.
16 | The Report • September 2018 • Issue 85
Safety Briefings
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80
