Thursday, January 22, 2015 in the lovely Palma yacht vacation destination, nestled in Spain, saw STP Shipyard Palma host its annual emergency fire drill for employees and staff, in order to remember and implement the protocol to follow in case of fire in the dry dock. They spent the day with courses to refresh and deepen protocols in case of fire. For this, the team of workers has taken theoretical and practical courses in handling equipment such as trucks and pumps, and as a final test participated in a fire drill.
Fire drill at STP Shipyard Palma
From 8.00 am in the morning the shipyard’s workers received theoretical instructions on skills and handling technical equipment used in case of fire. And at 12.30 started the simulation when an external worker who was on the premises of STP warned that there was a fire on a ship. From that moment Reception launched the action protocol calling Bomberos de Palma and internal notice to the Security Department of STP.
The shipyard has its own fire truck so they quickly put into practice all the techniques previously reviewed. It was a complete exercise not only because they proceeded to extinguish the fire on a boat but because the evacuation of the surrounding boats and rescue and evacuation of a wound that was inside the boat allegedly burned, including first aid demonstration.
More than 60 people were involved in the drill, including 40 employees and STP’s security personnel, 2 fire truck from Bomberos de Palma and Port’s Police personnel.
After the drill, all members involved shared ideas and evaluated the performance of the team analyzing the strengths and that should be improved.
It is recalled that STP, during high season, more than a hundred boats are repaired at the same time and about 1,500 workers in more than 450 authorized companies to perform such work circulate throughout. These figures deserve special attention on safety issue. And not just for fire risk. Also risk of contamination or injury.
For this reason and being aware that STP is one of the busiest facilities in Europe in terms of refit and maintenance of ships, the shipyard’s Management has been concerned to comply with all necessary requirements to ensure the safety of workers and vessels, and of course, the environment and the sea. Therefore, STP has been working for years in the renewal of Quality and Environmental accreditations (ISOS) and Work Safety (OHSAS). Accreditations are accompanied by a philosophy based on responsibility.
Note that, preventive activity includes not only staff training and action protocol, but also a specialized support equipment which in case of fire includes its own fire truck with a foam tank system of about a thousand litres -substance more effectively than water to extinguish fires on boats-, among other extinguishing elements such as a hydrant network with hose connections scattered around the facilities and powder extinguisher boxes, carbon dioxide and foam.
Within the preventive activities plan, besides emergencies like the present one in this drill, there are other protocols such as a pollution plan also with specialized equipment in marine pollution (skimmer, antipollution barriers, etc …), staff’s continuous special training plan in all facets that may pose a risk of the activity, and an information program to captains, crews and companies on such emergencies.
