One of the most dangerous conditions to navigate a ship is restricted visibility because of obscure, heavy rain or dust storm. When the ship ’ mho officer gets information regarding such approaching weather condition, he or she should take all the necessary precautions to ensure that the ship sails through restricted visibility area without confronting any kind of collision or ground accident .
Mentioned below are ten-spot important points that must be taken into consideration for dependable navigation of the ship through restricted visibility area .1. Know your Ship inside-out : An effective voyage policeman must know each and every view of his or her ship in order to prevent any kind of accident. From dimensions to the characteristics of the ships, the officer should know how the ship will behave under different circumstances. For restrict visibility position, it is important that the OOW know the stopping distance of the ship at any finical RPM in arrange to control the embark during emergencies.
2. Inform the Master : During restricted visibility, it is significant that the maestro is on the bridge. The OOW must call or inform the chief regarding the navigate condition. The officer should besides inform the engine room and ask the duty engineer to man the engine room encase it is on “ unmanned ” modality .
3. Appoint Adequate Man Power : It is authoritative that enough man power is present on the bridge in order to keep a close watch on the ship ’ randomness class. extra personnel must be appointed as “ lookout ” at different locations on the ship. If there is traffic in the area, the policeman must inform the engine room to have enough work force so that the engine is besides ready for immediate manoeuver .
4. Keep the Fog Horn Ready : guarantee that the fog horn is working by rights for the restricted area. If the horn is air operate on, drain the agate line prior to opening the publicize to the horn .
5. Reduce Speed : Reduce the speed of the transport depending on the visibility charge. If the visibility is less, bring down the ship to maneuvering RPM.
6. Ensure Navigation Equipment and Light Are Working Properly : guarantee that all important navigate equipment and navigation lights are working by rights during restricted visibility. The OOW must ensure that the navigation charts are properly checked for right route and a good radar watch is carried out .
7. Stop All Other Works : Though it ’ randomness obvious, but never multi-task during restricted visibility even if there are more than sufficient people present on the bridge. besides stop all other deck shape and order the crowd to go to their respective rooms. This is to prevent injury to personnel working on assailable deck in event collision or grounding takes topographic point .
8. Open/Close Bridge Doors : see that the bridge door is kept open and is without any obstruction for easy bridge wing access ( Considering that the bridge wing is not enclosed ). besides, in event of scatter or sandpaper storm, close all the bridge openings.
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9. Shut Ventilation : If the embark is passing through a sand storm, the ventilation fans and accommodation/ engine room ports must be closed to avoid sand particles from entering bridge, accommodation and locomotive room .
10. Follow All Procedures : Follow all the important procedures for restrict visibility as mentioned in COLREG Rule -19. besides monitor channel 16 in the radio and ensure that all important parameters of the transport such as latitude and longitude, time, speed etc. are noted in the log book .
Navigating the transport through restricted visibility area is a critical task which must be carried out with extreme circumspection and care the policeman on watch. Do you know any other crucial points that must be considered during restricted visibility ? Let us know in the comments below .
