(c)
MCA_Orals
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MGN
20 Health and Risk Assessment
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| Risk Number | Risk factor | What the Risk means |
| 1 | Trivial | No work to be carried out |
| 2 | Tolerable | Keep an eye on the danger, be cautious |
| 3 | Moderate | You have to try and reduce the risk |
| 4 | Substantial | Work should not start until the risk has been Reduced |
| 6 | Intolerable | Work should not start until the risk has been Reduced |
| 9 | Intolerable | Work should not start until the risk has been Reduced |
Dangers on your vessel, there are several dangers on a vessel, I'm going to concentrate on three main ones
Flooding
(1)
Flooding in vessels, this is the main cause of vessels being lost,
what risk factor is it?(a) The Risk factor will vary from ship to
ship, depending on how well maintained your vessel is, lets take a
vessel that has an engineer who does not do maintenance work on his
vessel.
This engineer is looking for serious trouble, bilge pumping systems
must be maintained to the highest degree to make sure the vessel does
not sink with the loss of life, they must also know how to operate
bilge pumping systems and have back up systems for emergencies, portable
pumping systems are a must too
Overhead Dangers
(2) Anything overhead, what risk factor is it?(a) At least a Substantial risk, even if the object that is overhead is well maintained, it can still come crashing down and kill who is below it, overhead objects including hanging blocks and lifting derricks are to handled with extreme caution, any metal that has a fracture in it could easily be hidden below paint, never over-rely on machinery.
Manoverboard
(3) A person falling overboard, what risk factor is this?(a) At least a Substantial risk if not an intolerable risk, if a man falls overboard there is three main factors that could kill him
Hypothermia
(4)
Hypothermia - Most cases of hypothermia occur because of shipwrecks.
Most survivors that are taken aboard are paralyzed and are numb.
Immersing a body into very cold water usually below 12 degrees Celsius
will cause hypothermia where the body looses heat rapidly if the
skin falls below 33 degrees Celsius then the person will suffer
hypothermia.
(If its you who is in the sea then try and conserved your energy
and don't swim as this will cause heat loss)
(If you have to abandon your vessel wear as much clothes as possible;
also put rubber gloves onto your hands as well as your life jacket)
(If there are survival suits aboard put them on and fasten up the
cuffs at the ankles wrists and neck, if there are divers suits then
they're the best, put them on)
Shock
(5)
Shock - If you have every entered the sea to have a swim and then
ran back onto the sand because the water is freezing then this is
a mild form of shock. However, what would happen if it is your vessel
that is sinking, and you did not have time to launch your liferaft.
You have to jump into the sea the shock you will get when first
entering the sea will make you hyperventilate and if you've a weak
heart or are prone to heart problems then you could and probably
will take a heart-attack.
Shock can kill people because of a lot of different reasons as stated
below, with an amputated limb and the loss of massive amounts of
blood the patient is going to haemorrhage and probably have a heart
attack.
Secondary Drowning
(6)
Secondary Drowning - Secondary drowning is another name for Salt-water
aspiration syndrome; this is where water enters the lungs, which
creates irritation, which causes air passages to swell up.
Even when a person had drowned for a lengthy period, (up to 40minutes
has been recorded) and has drowned, it has been known to bring these
persons around to a full recovery so never give up.
A big factor whether the casualty lives or dies, is because the
temperature of the water and whether it fresh or saltwater.
The chance's of recovery from a person who has been immersed in
salt water has a better chance of recovery.
Factors that usually lead to secondary drowning are: -
(a) Panic, especially when the cold water first strikes you.
(b) Hyperventilation.
(c) Body function seizures.
(d) Cardiac arrest.
(e) The inability to swim.
(f) Trauma, if the person has been knocked unconscious, and lying
face down in the water.
(g) Exhaustion.
(h) Hypothermia.
Food Poisoning
(8)
Food poisoning can be a major factor in a risk assessment
Imagine you all ate the same meal and the whole crew is down with
food poisoning and your the last one standing, your in the wheelhouse
making way for shore, what risk factor are you in?The risk factor
has to be Intolerable
You should take food poisoning too
Stop your vessel, put out a Mayday and put up your Not Under Command
lights, this is exceptional circumstances and await for help.
