UK P&I Club, a leading provider of P&I insurance and other services to the international shipping community, has launched its latest video in a series of award-winning reflective learning training videos, on a burn injury to the first engineer while inspecting a leak in the engine room.

The animated video depicts a serious injury inflicted during an operation to check a suspected leak from the main steam dump valve gasket in the engine room. Upon noticing the leak, the first engineer instructed the second and third engineers to stop the boiler operation, drain all steam and water from the system, and de-pressurise it.

Once informed the process was complete, the first engineer began dismantling the valve. As he removed the valve bonnet, steam and hot water blew out from the joint at high pressure causing extensive burns across his face and body. The injured engineer was immediately transferred to the ship’s hospital and later evacuated ashore by helicopter for urgent medical treatment.

The series of videos provides an interactive training experience with a focus on educating crewmembers on how to mitigate the risk of common marine accidents occurring. Hosted across Thomas Miller websites, the videos are available to view for training purposes by both marine employers and their employees.

Stuart Edmonston, Loss Prevention Director at UK P&I Club, said: “This type of burn injury is typical of the many reported to the UK P&I Club every year. The pipeline hadn’t been properly drained, and pressurised steam and hot water remained in the system. The first engineer’s assumption that the system was safe caused complacency, something that can be afforded while working on a ship.

“To prevent these incidents, work on steam or hot fluid systems should be subject to a thorough risk assessment, with proper information being shared between team members as to the status of an operation. Promoting industry-wide safety standards is our key focus and the Club hopes these interactive training videos help improve safety at sea, reducing the frequency of preventable and tragic incidents.”

View the latest UK P&I’s Lesson Learnt video.