The Marine Society & Sea Cadets

The marine environment is a dangerous place. All ships carry with them intrinsic hazards, against which the mariner must always be on guard. Some hazards are inherent to the ship – such as the great complexity of the plant and instrumentation we operate, or the nature of the cargo we carry. Others are entirely from the sea – stormy weather, distance from help in medical emergencies, proximity of rocks and shoals and dangerous currents.

Usually all the risks associated with these hazards combine to produce the dangerous environment in which we work every day on board ship. These challenges make our workplace somewhat different to those ashore. Imagine a refinery that tilted 30 degrees either way sometimes, or drifted sideways toward danger in certain parts of the world. Imagine trying to cook your dinner in a kitchen where it sometimes felt as though some giant hand had a hold of it and was shaking it for all it was worth.

Mariners accept the environment in which they work and they mitigate the effects of hazards by means of precaution and planning. This has been the case since the first ship ever put to sea; and it continues today, although in a more formal and planned way, using what is now officially termed “risk assessment”.

Safety at sea boils down to looking out for yourself and looking out for your shipmates. If, as John Donne famously wrote ,“No man is an island”, this is never more true on a ship, where looking out for your workmates is one of the cornerstones of our 24-hour safety approach to the non-stop marine working day.

Ships have a team of people known as the Safety Committee, which includes the captain, the safety officer (2nd Mate or 3rd Engineer usually) and representatives elected by the officers and the ratings. The safety committee meets at least once every four weeks to discuss and review safety issues.

At our safety meeting in July, it was suggested that we might put in place a means of recognising extra safety performance where the person concerned was seen to contribute to safety matters above and beyond the call of duty.

After some discussion it was decided to go ahead and set this up, and the winner would be chosen by means of votes.

At today’s safety meeting the votes were counted, and out of all 32 people on the ship, one was the clear winner: Mr Joven Ranario, Able Seaman. A common theme running through the comments on the voting cards for Mr Ranario is that he looks out for the safety of others, which is the most commendable attribute of any safe person on a ship.

To recognise his notable safety performance, Mr Ranario was presented with a framed picture of the ship and half a kilo of Cadbury’s chocolate. The chocolate in particular is an apt prize. Like safety, it can be easily and readily shared, and actually doesn’t cost very much.

While Mr Ranario was the main prize-winner, the captain reminded everyone present that we are all winners in the area of safety when we can reach the end of the working day having met the challenges of our environment, and having looked out for the safety of our fellow seafarers while so much has been going on around us.

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