The American Club has issued an urgent alert to its members about the operation of oxy-acetylene equipment without flashback arrestors.
This results from a recent casualty leading to a claim and through recent survey inspections, and the club’s managers describe the use of such equipment without fitment of flashback arrestors as “extremely dangerous.” Members are encouraged to check that all such equipment on their vessels is being kept in good condition and operated safely. In particular, flashback arrestors must always be fitted to the bottles; and bottles must always be stowed securely in an upright position with oxygen and acetylene bottles stowed separately and away from each other, not in enclosed spaces.
In another alert to members, the managers have drawn attention to the new Port State Control concentrated inspection campaign on fire safety that commences on September 1. The purpose of the joint campaign being launched by the 43 maritime authorities of the Paris and Tokyo MoU is to ensure compliance with Solas Chapter II-2/Construction – fire protection, fire detection and fire extinction arrangements on board ships. The inspection campaign will last for three months until November 30. As usual, when deficiencies are found, actions by the port state may vary from recording a deficiency and instructing the master to rectify it within a certain period, to detaining the ship until such deficiencies have been dealt with.