Analysis of shipboard fire/explosion accidents occurred in the Turkish search and rescue area

Abstract

A shipboard fire/explosion may be occurred due to various causal factors such as actions, omissions, events or conditions. In this study, it is aimed to carry out an analysis focused on shipboard fire/explosion casualties. With this aim, the data on 127 shipboard fire/explosion casualties occurred in the Turkish Search and Rescue area, which were reported to the Main Search and Rescue Coordination Center between 2006-2015, have been analyzed. As a result of the statistical analysis (descriptive statistics), it has been observed that majority of the shipboard fire/explosion casualties were occurred on-board the Turkish flagged ships, on-board small passenger vessels/recreational vessels/private-commercial yachts among the classified ship types, in the regions of İstanbul, İzmir and Çanakkale, in the summer season, during the night-time, and in machinery spaces of the ships by described locations. It has been also observed that main events caused shipboard fires/explosion casualties were electricity contact/leakage, gas accumulation/leakage, cargo ignition, welding/hot works and other undescribed factors. Additionally, by examining the existing shipboard fire & explosion accident investigation reports of Transportation Safety Investigation Center between 2014-2020, it has been observed that the main possible causal/contributing factors for the shipboard fire/explosion casualties were related with the violations of the ISM-Safety Management System (SMS) requirements. Many previous studies in the relevant literature point out to the ISM/SMS-related causal/contributing factors as well. In conclusion, special attention should be paid to the effective implementation and continuous improvement of the ISM/SMS procedures related with shipboard fire safety for the prevention of shipboard fire/explosion casualties as well.