From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

[Pete Hayselden]

I was a Safety rep in Towage for many years.
We had one superintendent who stated categorically
"we have no asbestos in these tugs and if we do it is not the dangerous sort"

As safety reps we welcomed the introduction of "risk assessments" as a means of improving safety.
However it was not long before the employers started using them so see how little they could get away with doing. They used the totting up points system to keep the overall score as low as possible rather than looking for ways to improve safety.

PTT.

[Captain Kong]

If Safety costs money, Forget it.

[j.sabourn]

#31... Peter I see you were a tug man before taking up safety What is your honest opinion on the safety practices involved in towing using an improvised gog eye, and the use of the pelican hook , used pre 1980 When making fast and letting go large tows. I know the standard answer will be to be careful , we all knew that, but what percentage of accidents happened when undergoing and slipping a tow and making fast the same. .? JS

[john gamble]

There was also a time when they went up chimneys to sweep them, as young as six so I have been told.
Looking back at those times there was no concern for the life of the working class as far as the owners of such were concerned.

Thankfully there were some of the gentry who had some decency about them and managed to have laws changed or introduced.
Without them who knows how we would be today?

We wouldn't be here....

[j.sabourn]

Regarding the firefighting on this post, my Views would be to leave it if possible to the professional. They train longer and learnt to work together as a team. Probably knoweach others weaknesses and strengths. A bunch of semen doing a fire drill will know how. Touse the equipment and that’s about all. No two persons are the same it only takes one of a team of two to get cold feet ,no metaphor intended for the venture to be a failure. There are no experts among seamen when it comes to fires , there are too many different types to start with. I don’t agree with going rgrough a checklist before trying to safe life’s , in all probability you haven’t got that time to perform that luxury. You either go in or you go home. Everything sounds good when dealing with a theoretical fire, you tell the fire he has to play by the rules. There are no rules where safety of life is concerned. You don’t have the time or the inclination to consult the safety manual. You have to be prepared as it happens. Those who lecture on it , probably take hours of consultation with others to prepare their lectures. Would be better I would imagine to go and live at a fire station for a month or so. JS

[j.sabourn]

Add to above the ship on my avatar is the Seaforth Clansman and think if you click on will give some of its particulars . Anyhow she had 4 fire monitors which pumped out X thousands of gallons of water a minute, like Louis’s Maersk ship he was on where 2 of the 4 main engines drove the fire pumps. We were lying alongside an old warehouse on the banks of the Clyde. This warehouse caught fire, and the master decided it would be good practice to put it out before the fire brigade arrived . I was the mate so threw off the after ropes and swung the ship bow on to the Quay and hey presto away they went half the Clyde descending on this warehouse. Certainly put out the fire as well as demolishing the warehouse . When the brigade arrived there was a huge mound of bricks and mortar with faint wisps of smoke coming from . Hope the building was insured. If there had been anyone in the building they would have thought before oblivion overtook them that they had been hit by a tsunami. JS..

[Terry Bryce]

167 men lost their lives due to the Piper Alpha disaster including my cousin, to mention and use the argument of the lack of safety equipment on standby boats in the same context is disrespectful.

[cappy]

####so just say nothing is less respectfull then .....cappy

[j.sabourn]

Don’t know what he means. Anyhow on the safe side ignore list. JS

[Malcolm Lawrence]

I don't know if anyone has attended the Fire Colledge Moreton in Marsh Glocestershire, as Fire officers we all had to attend courses there, civilian couses as well. the facilities there are fantastic, eg a full size concrete ship and dock, 3 decks with emergency escape exits at all levels, they would stack timber up in huge baskets where the engines would have been, and then BA crews were sent for top deck level, down to fight the fire, dragging hoses with them, that was as tough as the real thing. I can remember one guy coming out with his torch on a lanyard on his belt, and the torch completely melted, happy days, and much beer quaffed in the evenings, kt

Being an IOW man I expect Keith knows the Military Fire Training site HMS Excellent on Whale Island Portsmouth, they have an interesting facility - a full size section of a ship that they can fill up with water or smoke then set it in motion with hydraulic rams to simulate being at sea, chuck in the cadets and hey presto some very real life knowledge injected into some young minds