200861 Watertight integrity and high level bilge alarms

Official Report Abridged from USCG Marine Safety Alert 1-08

In a recent maritime casualty, a vessel sank with loss of many lives. Preliminary findings indicate that the flooding of the vessel may have been exacerbated due to open or leaking watertight doors and other compartmental deficiencies which impacted the vessel's overall watertight integrity.
Vessel owners and operators are advised to implement these recommended preventive actions on board their vessels:

Watertight integrity
Inspect all watertight decks and bulkheads periodically to verify that progressive flooding cannot occur and that closure devices (such as watertight doors (WTDs) and duct closures) are in place and in working order.
Familiarise crew members with the locations of the WTDs and weather-tight closures throughout their vessels.
WTDs and hatches must be closed while at sea and as otherwise specified in the stability guidance provided to the master.
WTDs and hatches should be opened only briefly to allow passage and labelled appropriately to remind crew members to close them. If required to remain open to permit work, they must be continuously monitored so that they can be closed immediately. Any WTDs permitted to be open while the vessel is underway should be secured during drills to ensure they work properly.
Implement a WTD, hatches and weather-tight closures inspection and maintenance programme. Items to check include: straightness of the door, edges and compression bars, evidence of loose, missing, seized or damaged components; permanent set, gaps, cracks, paint, rust, or other foreign material on the packing material, efficiency and adequate lubrication of working parts such as dogs and hinges, and the spindle packings of the dog bolts. Parts that are found to be ineffective must be replaced.
Bulkhead and deck penetrations (electrical cables and piping) must be inspected frequently and properly maintained.
 

Bilge and high water alarms
All spaces must be kept dry unless permitted by the stability instructions provided to the master.
High-level bilge alarms should be set as low as possible to the deck or bilge well and positioned along the centremost area of the compartment, or in a location at which the fluids will gravitate to first. In areas where bilge water routinely accumulates, the bilge high-level alarms should be placed just above the point where, under normal working conditions, the accumulation would be pumped to a holding tank, overboard, or through an oily water separation system if required. Alarms may be fitted with short time delays to prevent nuisance alarms caused by the rolling and pitching of the vessel.
Provide all the means necessary to ensure leakages stemming from machinery, equipment and other components are kept to a minimum at all times in accordance with good marine practice.

Editor's note: Hinged closures such as doors and trunk lids should also be tested for play by manually rocking them in the open position. Excessive play indicates ovality of the hinge hole, which may cause poor alignment, leading to insufficient sealing even after full tightening of the dogs.