DNVGL Watertight doors awareness campaign

Masters, Officers please ensure you remember to brief your embarked Security Personnel on your on board safety procedures. (ASKET)

Watertight doors are crucial for reducing ship vulnerability in cases of flooding, as witnessed from the time of the Titanic to today. Due to re-occurring deficiencies during surveys, and accidents leading to injuries and fatalities, GARD and DNVGL have joined forces to launch an awareness campaign on watertight doors

For the major accident scenarios of foundering, grounding and collision, controlling the ship’s internal watertight integrity – and therein the watertight doors – can make a significant difference when it comes to reducing the consequences related to loss of life and asset. An open watertight door in a flooding scenario is a failure that rapidly may lead to capsizing or foundering depending on the ship design, and for which there may be no recovery.

Managing watertight doors as a safety barrier sounds like an easy, everyday task. However, it is indeed a highly complex operation involving technical systems, people and processes.

By launching an awareness campaign targeting all relevant stakeholders in the industry, GARD and DNV GL intend to:

• increase confidence in watertight doors as a barrier in case of flooding,

• create better understanding of how the watertight doors are designed and should be operated and maintained, and

• promote in-situ awareness of officers and crew members operating the doors.

A key element of the campaign is to develop a proactive closing culture. This means being prepared for possible external events such as a collision or grounding or bad weather. Another element is to create awareness regarding the occupational risk of incorrect passing of watertight doors, and reflect on potential conflicts this may create. The project team has also been working with the industry in assessing work orders in planned maintenance systems related to watertight doors. An example of work orders is part of the awareness campaign package.

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