British Shipping Safety Awareness Awards 2011 Winners Announced
Today cadets from Fleetwood Nautical Campus, South Tyneside and Warsash Maritime Academy were rewarded for their innovative safety ideas at the Chamber of Shipping’s 17th Annual British Shipping Safety Awareness Award ceremony. The awards highlight the industry’s commitment to world class safety standards, encouraging thought provoking competition entries on future regulations from cadets and trainee ratings in the Merchant Navy. Cash prizes were awarded to the three projects that offered the best contribution for potential improvements in safety at sea.
This year’s winning entry was ‘Ocean Wave Top Trumps’, Thomas Chitseko’s take on the popular card game. Instead of comparing characters or objects, each card features potential hazards, creating a memorable, fun and engaging way to educate seafarers of the dangers they may encounter in their day to day working lives. Thomas started his training with the RFA in June 2010, and is currently studying towards a Marine Operations foundation degree at Fleetwood Nautical Campus. Both organisations attended the ceremony to congratulate him as he was presented with a £1000 cash prize and £400 for his college.
In joint second place were Sean West and Nick Rudd, scooping £625 each as well as £400 for the Warsash Maritime Academy and South Tyneside respectively.
Sean West left his home in Cornwall to begin a Foundation Degree in Marine Engineering at Warsash in January 2011. His project, ‘Enclosed Space Entry – Comprehensive Safety System’, involves a newly designed harness that would include devices to measure oxygen and toxicity levels and allow emergency escape breathing and signaling. It would also feature communication equipment, fall arrest harness, search transmitter, entry/exit recording and an emergency luminaire. Sean is currently at sea but his second place prize was collected by a representative from both his sponsor company, BP Maritime Services.
Nick Rudd’s cadetship is sponsored by Trinity House and he began his training with Chiltern Maritime in 2008. His joint second place prize winning entry was ‘Oil Tanker Inert Gas System Automatic Cut Off’. This innovative system would provide an automatic gas cut off solution to prevent flow to the cargo network, should the oxygen content of exhaust gas exceed the limit. Nick is currently waiting for his Notice of Eligibility and is due to complete his training very soon.
Mark Brownrigg, Director General of the Chamber of Shipping, opened today’s ceremony. Speeches followed from David Squire and Rear Admiral Sir Jeremy de Halpert, Deputy Master of Trinity House who have sponsored the event for the last three years.
Mark Brownrigg today reiterated the importance of the event in raising awareness amongst seafarers of the crucial and constant need for new and innovative safety procedures. He stated, “I hope next year’s Awards attract more entries than ever, going further to ensure understanding of good safety practices amongst cadets and reflecting how serious an issue innovation and good practice are to the industry as a whole.”
21st November 2011