A competition with prize money of USD10,000 aims to raise hazard awareness among seafarers.
The ‘Spot the Hazard Competition’ is being run by the Standard P&I Club and the International Chamber of Shipping in what is said to be the first collaboration of its kind in the industry.
The competition is open to any seafarer worldwide and runs until 28 August.
Entrants will be asked to identify hazards shown in a series of images depicting typical scenes on board ship. In addition, seafarers are invited to submit a safety idea that is relevant to the image and can be shared throughout the industry.
The competition features five images: the bridge, engine room, main-deck, galley, and a port terminal scene. Entry instructors are available in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, Hindi, and Mandarin. Seafarers can submit entries for as many or as few of the images as they wish. The winner for each will win USD2,000.
The engine room is one of the five scenes which seafarers are tested on. Photo: The Standard Club
The aim of the competition
An ICS spokesman IHS Maritime: “This is a first for the ICS and the Standard Club. The aim is to get seafarers thinking about the hazards they face at sea and look at how they can come up with solutions. We need to find new ways to tackle risks and to engage the seafarers to provide their views and ideas on how those risks can be reduced. [This] has the potential to give the industry some original solutions.
“The prize money is significant but so are the threats faced by seafarers across the world.”
Yves Vandenborn, director of loss prevention at Charles Taylor & Co, which manages the Standard Club, said: “Every year there are thousands of accidents that could have been prevented. We want to encourage all those working at sea to identify hazards and deal with them effectively.
“This competition has been designed to raise awareness of what constitutes a hazard and to encourage an innovative approach to safety.
“We believe everyone on board a ship is responsible for its safety and this is why we have made sure that the competition is open to serving seafarers of all ranks and nationalities.”
ICS secretary-general Peter Hinchliffe added: “ICS is committed to the promotion of an effective safety culture throughout the global shipping industry. We therefore want to help seafarers understand the relationship between unsafe acts and serious incidents. Our goal in launching this new competition is to encourage all seafarers to think about safety as a matter of course during their everyday duties.”
To enter the competition, seafarers simply need to visit www.hazard-competition.com and follow the instructions provided.
This post was sourced from IHS Maritime 360: View the original article here.
