UK MCA issues guidance for alongside fumigation operations

The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) issued a marine notice to highlight the importance of fumigation being undertaken by professionally trained personnel, in line with guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive and the IMO.

This follows an incident where the fumigant on a general cargo vessel was discovered to be still active on discharge of cargo.

The incident

A fumigated cargo of maize was being discharged from a general cargo vessel, when it became apparent that the fumigant was still active. The cargo operations were immediately stopped and the crew were evacuated to the quayside. The fire brigade were quickly on the scene and nearby houses and retail premises were evacuated as a precautionary measure. Eight of the vessel’s eleven crew and a stevedore were taken to hospital for observation and decontamination.

Recommendations

The Health and Safety Executive have produced revised guidance which outlines the risks and describes the law that applies to fumigation operations. It contains specific advice with respect to procedures common to all fumigation operations including the use of monitoring equipment, personal protective equipment and respiratory equipment, health surveillance and first aid.

Among others, employers should ensure that fumigators have received the required level of training and that they are capable of:

    assessing the hazards of the fumigant – ie the properties of the substance which have the potential to cause harm to health;

    assessing the hazards of the work area, eg working at height, working in a confined space etc;

    controlling and containing the fumigant;

    using, maintaining and the limitations of PPE;

    using the application equipment in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions;

    using the calibrated equipment for the detection and measurement of that fumigant in the atmosphere, if methods exist;

    safe transportation and storage of fumigants and fumigant-generating materials.

MCA recommends that all those undertaking fumigation operations alongside, also consider the guidance which is contained in IMO’s Port Marine Safety Code. The Code was developed to improve safety in UK ports and to enable harbour authorities to manage their marine operations to nationally agreed standards.

Those using ports should follow the guidance on how to comply and review the lessons learnt from incidents which have occurred in harbours.