Answering Alarms

[Clanky]

I would hope that this would go without saying, but due to recent experiences onboard I thought I would say it anyway. This applies to both engine cadets and qualified officers.

If you answer an alarm and you are not 100% sure why the alarm has gone off or what to do about it then CALL SOMEONE, never, ever, just assume that it is a false alarm without checking and being certain that it is a false alarm, never, ever assume that someone else is dealing with it without first confirming with them that they are.

If you call someone at 03:00 for a silly alarm, they may be a little grumpy, if you don't call them for an alarm which turns out not to be silly then they will be furious when they arrive to a pile of s**t at 07:00.

I have just had to send an engineer home because on two separate occasions he answered alarms without either taking the appropriate action or informing someone, when I told him he was going home he told me that he had a family and that I was taking the food from the mouths of his children, when I told him that everyone onboard had families and that I wasn't confident that he was capable of keeping us all safe to return to our families I think it hit home to him, much too late, the seriousness of what we do onboard.

[JonathanI]

Rule no1. If in doubt there shall be no doubt

[bobofinga]

Gets me quite annoyed when Cadets answer alarms then I ask 'what was that?' and they say 'oh nothing' and I have to investigate myself. Especially fire alarms.

[Pilot Chris]

Can we also add if you don't know exactly what a button or switch does don't press it!

[GuinnessMan]

Can we also add if you don't know exactly what a button or switch does don't press it!

I think that should be "if you dont know what anything is on board, don't touch it!"

[bobofinga]

Exception to the rule is BNWAS

[old woman of the sea]

Bnwas?

[size4riggerboots]

Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System. Basically an annoying thing that beeps at at you every 12 minutes to make sure you're awake on the bridge.

[old woman of the sea]

Learn a new thing every day, especially on here!
Cheers.

[alistairuk]

Bridge Navigational Watch Alarm System. Basically an annoying thing that beeps at at you every 12 minutes to make sure you're awake on the bridge.

And on this ship sounds exactly like the alarm the kettle makes when it's ready...

[YoungMariner]

Can we also add if you don't know exactly what a button or switch does don't press it!

Oh, I have to admit I am guilty of this. I press everything to see what it does, occasionally forewarn the engineers. I hate it when I join a ship and ask what does this do, and get a "oh we never touch that, so it's not important". Oops, :-)

[marlinspike]

I would hope that this would go without saying, but due to recent experiences onboard I thought I would say it anyway. This applies to both engine cadets and qualified officers.

If you answer an alarm and you are not 100% sure why the alarm has gone off or what to do about it then CALL SOMEONE, never, ever, just assume that it is a false alarm without checking and being certain that it is a false alarm, never, ever assume that someone else is dealing with it without first confirming with them that they are.

If you call someone at 03:00 for a silly alarm, they may be a little grumpy, if you don't call them for an alarm which turns out not to be silly then they will be furious when they arrive to a pile of s**t at 07:00.

I have just had to send an engineer home because on two separate occasions he answered alarms without either taking the appropriate action or informing someone, when I told him he was going home he told me that he had a family and that I was taking the food from the mouths of his children, when I told him that everyone onboard had families and that I wasn't confident that he was capable of keeping us all safe to return to our families I think it hit home to him, much too late, the seriousness of what we do onboard.

Sounds like your your engineer was either really lazy and/or had an incredibly low IQ, either way, it was time for them to go home. Might see the person's handy work in an MAIB report some day.

[Clanky]

Sounds like your your engineer was either really lazy and/or had an incredibly low IQ, either way, it was time for them to go home. Might see the person's handy work in an MAIB report some day.

The sad truth is that it is neither, in both cases it was a matter of complacency, he thought it was going to be OK without being sure that it was OK.

Getting rid of someone from a ship (and almost certainly from the company) isn't something that I do lightly, I am very aware that guys have families and kids who need feeding, but as i told him, my responsibility is to ensure that the engine room watchkeepers are going to keep the rest of us safe.

The reason I posted this here is because the guy was not lazy or of a very low IQ, he was just complacent, a very easy trap to fall into.

[jcwilson91]

We had this a few weeks ago..

I came onto the 0000-0600 watch, with the cadet, he had been working with the 2nd for 2 months, basically cleaning and I didn't agree with how he was being "taught" so I suggested that he come with me and I will teach him how to be a 4th as well as the theory, this help me as I find teaching others a good way of learning also, he was asking some questions that helped me learn new snippets.

After he took his round, he came back to ECR and asked what we will do now, I'd noticed that AE#1 had a fuel pump leaking so we were going to change over to #3,

For the purpose of learning, I'd put the PMS into semi-auto/manual mode, and the plan was to ask him to change over to #3. Fairly simple.

Although I led with, "we're going to stop #1 genny" I was smoking and on the other side of the MSB which blocked my view of the ECR panel.

All of a sudden I heard the genny slowing down and we blacked out. Out of eagerness he had went ahead and stopped it immediately.

All was well as we were at anchor and had no one around us, so we laughed it off and I took the bamboo from the 2nd because really it was my fault, but just goes to show... Always be aware.


I have to admit, as a cadet I was an active button pusher / valve opener / switch flicker to find out what happens, not without thinking it through before hand obviously.

[marlinspike]

The sad truth is that it is neither, in both cases it was a matter of complacency, he thought it was going to be OK without being sure that it was OK.

Getting rid of someone from a ship (and almost certainly from the company) isn't something that I do lightly, I am very aware that guys have families and kids who need feeding, but as i told him, my responsibility is to ensure that the engine room watchkeepers are going to keep the rest of us safe.

The reason I posted this here is because the guy was not lazy or of a very low IQ, he was just complacent, a very easy trap to fall into.

Yeah it is sometimes good to give people that are complacent a short, sharp shock to keep them on their toes. Even if your company gives the person the bullet then it might actually help their future career by making them less complacent in the future, as now it has hit home what the results of complacency are.

I've seen more than once people getting sacked from average companies for general incompetence, only to hear a few months down the line that the person is now working for a top end company. Life seems unfair at times.