“Improving Safety on Workboats” by Emirates International Maritime Academy.

Introduction

With the increase in the offshore oil and gas explorations, the reclamations project along the shorelines for housing and leisure developments, Middle East has become one the world’s leading supply based for workboats.

Workboats such as offshore supply vessels, tugboats, mooring boats, passenger crew boats, dredging vessels, floating crane barges, rescue & patrol boats have become a common sight around the region. Workboats are generally smaller in size as compared to the ocean going vessel. They are more difficult to maneuver and dangerous when operating in open seas which is often subjected to strong seas and high swell. Couple with the current shortage of competent manpower, crew of different nationalities are put together often working long hours, standing by which may take more than 24hrs or even days. They experienced fatigue and stressful state of mind. With such detrimental conditions, their situational awareness becomes weak and errors are committed more frequently without actually realizing the consequences.

The talk is about understanding those issues and be aware of the situations before it become a disaster. We will discuss more about the human elements, the factors that facilitate the mishap and what can be done to minimize and eliminate it.