6.4 Minimizing risk through layout and design
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee - MSC/Circular.834 – Guidelines for Engine-Room Layout, Design and Arrangement – (Adopted on 9 January 1998) - Annex - Guidelines for Engine-Room Layout, Design and Arrangement - 6 Recommended Procedures - 6.4 Minimizing risk through layout and design

6.4 Minimizing risk through layout and design

  6.4.1 Machinery and equipment in the engine-room should be designed to minimize or eliminate the hazards inherent in rotating machinery, hot surfaces, and electric potential.

  6.4.2 Machinery in the engine-room should be located with respect to one another in ways that minimize the risk of multiple failures from a single accident.

  • .1 Consideration should be given to locating redundant machinery and equipment on opposite sides of the engine-room while giving regard to the resulting proximity to the controls, instrumentation and engine-room watch stations.

  • .2 Fire-fighting equipment, watertight door electric and hydraulic services and other vital systems should be kept well clear of high risk machinery and equipment, such as turbo-generators and main engines, to minimize the risk of fire or explosion involving such machinery or equipment rendering the vital systems or equipment inoperative or inaccessible to crew members responding to an emergency.

  • .3 Electrical panels, switchboards and other electrical equipment should be protected from fluids by such means as splash guards or by separating pipes from electrical apparatus.

  6.4.3 Consideration should be given to orienting machinery in order to minimize the dynamic load on bearings due to ship motion.

  6.4.4 A non-skid coating or covering should be provided for decks, platforms and ladder treads to prevent slipping.

  6.4.5 Tripping, falling and bumping hazards, such as the top and bottom of ladders, stanchions, sills and low overheads, should be vividly marked to call their attention to personnel working in the engine-room.

  6.4.6 Engine-rooms should be provided with means for collecting and disposing of oil, paper, rags and other wastes and with supplies for cleaning to minimize the potential for fire and personnel injury.

  6.4.7 Pipes and cables should be supported to resist vibration and dynamic loading due to ship movements.


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