The Nautical Institute is delighted to announce the winners of The Human Element Industry Group Safety Competition – Enclosed Spaces. The Awards took place during a special session held at the IMO Building on October 31st 2022.

Teaming up with InterManager and IMarEST, The Nautical Institute launched the competition in December 2021 to highlight the events that lead to incidents in enclosed spaces. The special awards session featured a panel of Captain John Lloyd, Chief Executive of The Nautical Institute, Captain Kuba Szymanski, Secretary General of InterManager, and Martin Shaw, President-Elect, IMarEST, who discussed Maritime Safety – Sending our peoples home safely.

There was an open format for entry into the competition which could be a report, poster or video. Companies and individuals could participate by sharing their ideas and proposing methods of preventing these incidents.

Capt John Lloyd said: “We were very pleased with the number, and quality, of entries we received which came from the UK and overseas. Unfortunately entry into hazardous spaces is, and remains, a recurring problem in maritime and we were glad to take this opportunity to open up a wider dialogue and give voice to people from different sectors of the industry. My congratulations to all of our winners who demonstrated a deep understanding of the subject.”

The award winners:

Technology
Martyn James, MNI, Marine Pilot, Associated British Ports.

Martyn’s entry describes a combined air mask and gas detector worn by those entering into enclosed spaces. The device enables an automatic release of air into the mask when oxygen deficiency is detected, allowing immediate and safe evacuation.

Procedures
Jonathan Charles Rushton, AFNI, retired, a Global Marine Specialist who previously worked for Talisman Energy and Shell Tankers.

Jonathan proposes to establish an expert panel with the sole purpose of reviewing enclosed space deaths from existing sources of information. The experts should be drawn from a wider community than the maritime sector alone. The resulting conclusions would shine a spotlight on the leading factors contributing to deaths in enclosed spaces.

Leadership
Lloyd Swindell, Deputy General Manager/QSHE, “K” Line LNG Shipping UK Ltd.

Awarded first prize in the Leadership category for his active encouragement of submissions from across the “K” Line LNG UK fleet resulting in higher levels of awareness and a number of recommendations for further improvements.

Ideas included the creation of laminated sheets with detailed diagrams of the space entered. The standby person keeps a plot of personnel in the space, minimising search time in the case where a rescue is needed, among other benefits.

Posters
Captain Russ Garbutt, FNI, retired, he previously worked as ship’s Master with P&O Ferries.

Awarded first prize in the category for his attention-grabbing posters.

Company Submission
Sören Scheid, NanoVapor Product Manager, Ecochlor.

Ecochlor is awarded First Prize in the Company Submission category for its NanoVapor technology, a tool to accelerate enclosed space and tank ventilation by suppressing volatile organic carbons (VOCs) and hydrogen sulphide while maintaining a breathable oxygen concentration at all times.