Emergency musters and drills

Description of Incident

Incident 1 – Emergency button stuck

During an emergency drill, it was found that the General Emergency alarm on the bridge was delayed whilst being activated. Further investigation revealed that dedicated Emergency button was stuck, and it failed to perform its function in a timely way during the drill.

Incident 2 - Near Miss – Smoke at muster station

A fire alarm was set off on the port side muster station where there was a smoking area. An AB and the 2nd Mate were sent to investigate what was going on. On arrival at the muster station there was dense smoke coming from the ashtray stand. The ashtray was opened, and a smouldering paper cup was found, along with recently discarded cigarette butts.

The smoker had, instead of bringing the cup to the dedicated waste bin which is just 10 metres away, just opened the standing ashtray and dumped the paper cup together with the still burning cigarette butt and closed it. This action caused smouldering and a small fire and could have developed into a much more serious situation.

To view this IMCA safety alert in full, click the 'Download Alert' button above and refer to section 4 of the document.