Today has been focusing on creating more wonderful content for you to practise with. Today was focusing on life saving and fire fighting appliance questions. As Potential Officers, Chief Mates and Future Captains it’s important to know the minimum specifications. A lot of equipment exceeds the minimum specification but we need a base line and that comes from SOLAS.
SOLAS then breaks down into the LSA Code and the FFE code. These provide more technical specifications and guidance on top of the guidance that SOLAS provides.
Without knowing the limitations of equipment it is difficult to effectively train with during drills, a requirement of ISM Code and Merchant Shipping Act. Further, a lack of knowledge may impact on any emergency response situations. Not knowing what your equipment is capable of can have serious impacts on your team.
Take for example a fire extinguisher. Knowing the basics of the fire extinguisher is handy;
- the throw of the medium
- what it extinguishes well
- what it must not be used on (water on oil fires)
- its expected discharge duration
If you know that as a Fire Team Leader in a drill you are able to advise your Fire Team Members effectively. By knowing that the CO2 extinguisher is great for electrical fires but the operator will need to be close to the fire due to the short throw. Coupled with the freezing effect of the nozzle will avoid any surprises when they are briefed what to do.
Other equipment.
The same can be said for any other equipment, fire, safety or work related. Get to know it, get to know how it works. Read the manual.
If the manual does not make sense, then find out why. Most often that not it is poor translation. If you can’t understand something then chances are there will be more. They may be too scared for ask for help which was common in the past, due to hierarchies and cultural differences. If its complicated, make it uncomplicated.
Take for example updating charts. The paper way is straightforward (well, for the older seafarers) and there were very few variations on how charts and publications were updated. Now, with different types of equipment there is no standard procedure for all units. Each brand has it’s own menu’s followed by submenus. To simplify things for yourself and others, create a How To guide or For Dummies guide.
Take some time to read through the manual and follow the steps
Then ask yourself,
- Is it clear?
- Can it be simplified?
- Do we do things the same or do we have variations?
Then make a simplified guide and get some one to try it. With seafarers always do the following
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID
Contact details
As you may have seen we are still busy developing this website constantly. There is a huge amount of content that needs to be uploaded daily and unfortunately there is no easy fix. Whilst a lot of it is prepared, uploading can take a lot longer.
Another area I was working on today was the Contact form. I tried to create a simple and effective contact form. I have learnt a lot in the past few hours learning and practising I have nearly completed my assessment and will implement the most straightforward and logical contact form. At the end of the day, I am a Seafarer first then Web Developer!
For now, if you have any questions email me at info@whitecliffsmaritime.com and I will get back to you as soon as I can.