Safety Precautions

Engine rooms are hot, noisy, sometimes dirty and potentially dangerous. The presence of flammable fuel, high voltage (HV) electrical equipment and internal combustion engines (ICE) means that a serious fire hazard exists in the engine room, which is monitored continuously by the engine department and various monitoring systems. Engineers and motormen should wear safety clothing and in the engine room. They wear boiler suit, safety shoes, safety helmet, gloves and ear-muffs

In a ship’s engine room, where the maximum machines are located, crew carry out the maintenance for safe and efficient operation. Each machine on board a ship requires maintenance which has to be carried out at regular intervals of time.

The number of crew members and engineers on the ship has reduced. Many ships carry only 3-4 engineers on board a ship and even the time required to carry out maintenance on the ship has reduced. The number of crew members is less and the amount of machinery is more. That’s why it is so important to plan the maintenance of the machinery that should be overhauled and maintained properly. Second engineer is responsible for planning the schedule of maintenance on a ship.

There is no strict rules about the location of each item of equipment, but normally the engine room consists of several levels with different machinery such as auxiliary engines or diesel generators, a boiler, the inert gas plant, fresh water generator and purifiers, fuel and oil pumps and storage tanks, the engine control room, waste incinerator and some equipment like electrical panels at various levels. The location of the engine room itself isn't fixed for all types of ships. Most ships have engine room at the aft, while there are other variations in which it is located amidships or at the front side of the ship.

The engine room can either be manned or unmanned, which basically means that either there are duty engineer and crew present 24 hours a day in the engine room (typically on a 4-on-4-off duty mode). The actual mode depends on the type of ship, the level of automation, and certain navigating conditions such as navigation in restricted waters and so on.

When any watchkeeper enters the engine room, he is typically advised to follow a "funnel to tunnel" path where he starts inspecting the top most sections of the room and ends at the bottom most level. This helps to detect any leaks, abnormal noises, and other faults which may not be detected by the alarms and monitors installed on modern ships.

Maintenance and repair of engine room machinery requires moving of heavy parts from one place to another. As individual parts of main engine and machinery of ship weighs in tonnes, engine room crane operation and safety are the most important for the continuous operation of the ship.

If equipped with internal combustion or turbine engines, engine rooms comprise several means for providing air. If it is attended machinery space, additional ventilation should be available to keep engine room temperatures to acceptable limits. If it is UMS, the ventilation need only be sufficient to supply the engines with intake air.

The requirement for general ventilation and the requirement for sufficient combustion air are quite different. Engines pull sufficient air into the engine room for their own operation. However, additional airflow for ventilation usually requires intake and exhaust blowers.

Exercise 3. Give brief answers to the following questions:

1. Why is the engine room so dangerous? 2. What should engine room staff wear while working in machinery space? 3. What is about the number of the engineers and motormen in the engine room? 4. What is about the time for maintaining the machinery and equipment in machinery spaces? 5. Who is responsible for the schedule? 6. What is about the work time in the engine room? 7. Why are there different modes of working in the engine room? 8. What is the good piece of advice for engineers and motormen? 9. What is about engine room location? It depends on…. 10. The safety rules are very important in the machinery spaces, aren’t they? 11. How many types of engine rooms do you know? 12. Is it right, that the system of ventilation differs from the type of the engine rooms?

Exercise 4. Give equivalents:

· in Russian: main propulsion plant, sounding pipe, setting tank, machinery to be secured, ear-muffs, boiler suit, internal combustion engines, equipment to be checked, HV electrical equipment, to lag the pipes, to carry out maintenance, emergency source of power, reduced time, safety helmet, the schedule of the maintenance, level of automation, attended engine room, safety shoes with laces and heels, UMS, fuel-oil supply pump, sufficient level, purifier, auxiliary engine;

· in English: системы контроля, двигатель внутреннего сгорания, резервный насос, очиститель, машинное отделение с вахтенным обслуживанием, вспомогательный котел, уровень пресной воды, очистить забортную воду, проверять оборудование, аварийный слив, костюм для работы в МО, ошибки команды, слишком высокое давление, запрещать курение, измерительная трубка, датчик давления.

Exercise 5. Read and translate the following text. Make sure that new terms are written down to your vocabulary for this lesson.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14