The information available on this Safety Flash and our associated web site is provided in good faith and only for the purposes of enhancing safety and best practice. For the avoidance of doubt no legal liability shall be attached to any guidance and/or recommendation and/or statement herein contained.

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Marine Safety Forum – Safety Flash 13-30

Issued: 1st July 2013 Subject: Spill of Backloaded Slops

A recent incident has revealed that the vessels concerns were ignored and pressure was put on the vessel Master to incorrectly load slops into a brine tank. The slops were successfully pumped ashore and the tanks cleaned to Brine Standard by shore side tank cleaners. During the tank cleaning operation, the vessel was informed by the cleaning company that there was insufficient water pressure to flush the lines so as to ensure that the same were suitably cleaned. A 2.5 inch diameter fire hose was used to flush the vessels 4 inch cargo lines. The vessel was aware that while the tank had been successfully cleaned there was the possibility that cargo lines were still contaminated with slops due to the inadequate water pressure. With this in mind, it was decided to ensure that the cargo lines were cleaned prior to loading any further product so as to avoid contamination. In order to check the lines, FW was filled into the brine tanks. It was planned to pump this FW from the Brine tank into the vessels slop tank via the cargo manifold by way of a fire hose connected by a reducer. Whilst one end of the fire hose was connected to the reducer, the other was incorrectly secured using rope.

The pump speed was set to 15% and as expected, slop contaminated product was observed coming out. Approximately a minute after the transfer commenced, the pressure increased and the end of the hose secured with rope came loose and sprayed the deck and cargo rail walkway with product from the brine line. Some of this product went over the side, of which 5 litres was estimated as oil. The pump was stopped immediately and the product cleaned off the vessels deck and cargo rail walkway. The relevant authorities were notified and an investigation into the incident conducted. It must be stressed that the action taken by the vessel to confirm the cleanliness of the brine line was a positive step which unfortunately, was inadequately planned. It is clear that had better communication and planning taken place by all parties involved, this incident could have been avoided.

The information available on this Safety Flash and our associated web site is provided in good faith and only for the purposes of enhancing safety and best practice. For the avoidance of doubt no legal liability shall be attached to any guidance and/or recommendation and/or statement herein contained.

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Immediate Cause

Inadequate Task Planning by the vessel

Incorrect Securing of Hose end which should have been suitably Risk Assessed.

Use of a 2.5 inch hose connected to a 4 inch line and build-up of pressure from such a configuration not considered.

Poor seamanship.

Root Cause

Inadequate Planning by offshore facility and logistics provider to not clean the empty Mud tanks during the vessels 30 hour stay in port prior to going on location.

Vessels concerns were not taken into account, the Vessel Master should have refused to backload slops into the Brine tanks.

Poor Communication on part of all parties concerned including the vessel.

Breach of Rule/Standard/Procedure by all parties concerned.

Actions taken and/or planned

A Time Out for Safety was conducted with all parties involved where it was stressed that if any job is considered unsafe, it must be stopped.

The Vessel was instructed that slops must not be loaded into brine tanks as per the requirements of the Certificate of Fitness.

The Charterer confirmed that they will be increasing positive reinforcement for Time Out For Safety/Stop the Job.

The Vessel was instructed to communicate directly with the Contract Holder, Vessel Manager and DPA if it was felt that undue pressure was being applied to perform an operation that was considered incorrect or unsafe.

Under no circumstances is any wet bulk product other than brine permitted to be loaded/backloaded into brine tanks. Brine tanks and their associated pumps are for the carriage of brine only and not for slops or mud. If a vessel does not have any clean mud tanks available into which slops can be backloaded, then the vessel must refuse to accept the slops. It is then the responsibility of the offshore facility/asset to make arrangements for the slops to be backloaded onto another vessel. This also applies to backflushing of wet bulk filling/discharge lines after tank cleaning. Lines are not to be backflushed into brine tanks or any other tanks which are not designed for this purpose to make life easier for the tank cleaning company. If you are unsure or uncomfortable, regarding any instructions which you receive, from offshore facilities or shore side logistics, then you are to contact your company immediately for clarification.