What makes an “ideal worker”, what are the common myths of working in a chemical tanker, what are the main reasons for many incidents happening on board - these and many such interesting and relevant topics were discussed threadbare and information imparted by the experts from in-house SIMS and also from the outside field in a crew seminar held at the ESM, Mumbai auditorium on 30th November 2007.

Attended by some 50 Ratings from the ESM fleet, the seminar kicked off with a Safety Moment and analysis of the lessons learnt, which was followed by Mr. Vishwanathan’s PowerPoint presentation on the latest environmental issues, marine litters and energy conservation.

On the issue of safety, Mr. Diwakar Puri gave a brief talk on recent safety related incidents on board and how the same could have been prevented with some extra precaution. He then followed up with a safety questionnaire. It was pleasing to find that majority of the participants secured a full score of 10. However, it is still necessary to reinforce compliance in the safety issue with a strict follow up to improve our HSSE awareness across the board.

In the same light, participants were also briefed about safe working practices onboard. Mr. Manish Jha who came up with a 16-point questionnaire of What Makes an Ideal Worker got the participants to do a self-evaluation based on those 16 points which would determine teamwork qualities, leadership quality, personal attitude, professionalism and adherence to rules and policies amongst others.

Participants were once again educated on the importance, usage and benefits of the on board CBT program. They were also encouraged to complete the training modules on board to maintain the spirit of the onboard training program.

The other issues of interest during the seminar were the presentations on the various health-related matters on board. Capt. Dubey gave an excellent presentation on cold weather injuries and their required precautions including signs and treatment of hypothermia.

An experienced medical practitioner, Dr. Barfiwala, was also invited to speak to the participants to clarify many misconceptions seafarers have about sailing on Chemical tankers. He debunked common myths of hair loss and infertility resulting from working on chemical tankers while at the same time advising participants on the necessity that a seafarer must take onboard for maintaining good health precautions. He also explained action first aid and treatment of a person exposed to chemicals

Dr. Barfiwala also stressed the importance of getting the LFT test done after every voyage on a chemical tanker as mandatory in ESM managed ships and encouraging seafarers to get important vaccines done before sailing. He also drew attention on the importance of exercising regularly onboard to maintain physical fitness.

The seminar ended with a Question & Answer session where participants showed great appreciation for the efforts put in by both ESM and SIMS in educating their sailing staff. SIMS T-shirts were given away as souvenirs and the day’s event was concluded with a get together at Hotel OASIS.