Rethinking health and safety at work for submariners
Recent study results, announced by the government regarding submarines, bring safety and health to the forefront. It is imperative in any business to have fire risk assessments completed. Yet, the issues with British nuclear submarines depict how important it actually is. In the last 25 years, 266 fire incidents have occurred on board British submarines. About 74 of these incidents included ballistic missile submarines. Three incidents occurred while the vessels were at naval bases. Of the 266 incidents, 243 were considered small scale, meaning these were localised fire issues such as minor electrical faults that created more smoke than fire. About 20 of the fires were medium scale that were still localised but assigned as a failure of mechanical equipment where flames were a part of the issues. The fact is, all 266 could have been catastrophic and extremely deadly for all on board.
The submarine fire results announced by the government put fire safety training into perspective. Without proper fire safety training and fire risk assessments, fires can occur with extremely deadly consequences. At the very least it could change one or more employees for life. It might seem that 266 fires is not a lot since it was over a period of 25 years, but that means on average 11 fires occurred on submarines per year. It is a lot when you think that many of these incidents happened while the submarine was under way without a naval base close enough for immediate support.
If you own a business, you do not want even one fire incident to occur in a year. Not only can it change an employee for life, but it can lead to fines, the closing of your business, and regrets. By taking the fire safety and fire marshal training courses from Winter and Company, you can be assured that you avoid fire safety issues.
