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New lifeboat drill ?


hootmon
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There is something to be said in favor mustering stations in the ship's interior.

However, that doesn't work at all if the ship has no, or insufficient, indoor public space on the same deck as the evacuation deck.

Until recently most of HAL's ships didn't have any indoor space that was suitable for muster. Now the word has changed to "many" ships, but it is still true that HAL can't have indoor muster as a SOP.

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If coming from cabin does HAL have provisions for wheelchair and elevators? Usually when drills start elevators are "closed" and people have to take stairs. RCCL allowed wheelchairs to use elevators and said in case of "the real deal" staff would carry chair on stairs.

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If coming from cabin does HAL have provisions for wheelchair and elevators? Usually when drills start elevators are "closed" and people have to take stairs. RCCL allowed wheelchairs to use elevators and said in case of "the real deal" staff would carry chair on stairs.

I have used the elevator to HAL's muster since I first started having mobility problems. There is a traffic director right there, and they have directed me to the elevators, so it is all right to use them.

There is one emergency elevator in each elevator bank. I presume that runs even if the ship is having an emergency, but have never found out in real life.

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Actually I was told it was a safety issue. Too many people falling on the dangling straps on the steps.

 

Agree that it was a safety issue..

 

In Nov. 2009 we were on the Statendam & I posted this about wearing life jackets when we returned..

 

Quote

I don't believe it's for psgrs comfort..I think it's for psgrs. Safety

It also makes sense to me now..On our Statendam cruise this pastNov. we were returning to our cabins with life jackets on &going down the steps..I had just stepped onto the first landing & turned togo down the second staircase, when a gentleman behind me fell down the entireflight of steps & hit his head hard on the landing next to me.. His legswere up the staircase & his head was on the landing..Believe he was inshock, as he was not responsive even though his eyes were open....Our FriendsDH & a couple of other men went to help him up..I yelled tothem.."Don't move him! It's best to wait for the emergency crew", aswas afraid if he had something broken, that moving him would cause a moreserious injury..We then cleared the area for the emergency crew..Later we askedour Stewards if he was OK, but they apparently did not know...

Unquote

That really scared me..:loudcry:I can still picture it eight years later, & am happy that HAL did away with the wearing of Life jackets years ago.. We never found out if the Psgr was OK..

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Thanks Ruth. I sort of figured you would know if anyone did. SveaGirl's new (manual) wheelchair is all tuned up and ready to go. She recently got a used scooter but is still learning to drive one-handed. It's a little awkward so we'll leave it at home.

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However, that doesn't work at all if the ship has no, or insufficient, indoor public space on the same deck as the evacuation deck.

Until recently most of HAL's ships didn't have any indoor space that was suitable for muster. Now the word has changed to "many" ships, but it is still true that HAL can't have indoor muster as a SOP.

 

So correct, you are. I meant no criticism of HAL from what I posted regarding the Star Princess situation. I made my post to remind those that just because there is a lack of outdoor deck space near the lifeboats ought to be considered a negative in all situations.

 

I have wondered, seriously: if my HAL ship had a similar fire such as Star Princess did and my muster station on the Lower Promenade Deck was directly below where the fire was, what would we guests be told to do and where would we go? And, would our assigned lifeboat still be available?

 

I do believe that each ship does have a Plan B if such a situation takes place.

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One more thing to add:

 

In case of a real evacuation ( abandon ship), you will be guided towards the MOST APPROPRIATE Lifeboat/ raft.

This is not necessarily the one closest to your Assembly Station.

One of the advantages of mustering in inside area is the more central location of said space. It is much easier to adapt and execute an evacuation plan to actual conditions ( fire one side, listing of the ship, explosion making several lifeboats inoperative,...) when assembly stations are more centralized.

For years, actual evacuations onboard passenger vessels have been chaotic because standard plans simply DO NOT work in most evacuation conditions and have to be altered. It is actually partly due to participation between the Airline and Maritime World, that Adaptive Evacuation Plans have been introduced ( and hopefully practiced). Koningsdam is simply a result of this changed view on Mustering and Evacuation procedures. The result is that there is no more need to have wide outside decks. ( not the other way around. Safety is ALWAYS the first condition in ship design. The promenade deck of Koningsdam is designed like this because of the changed procedures, not The other way around.) Glad I was able to participate some years ago in a cross-industry think tank regarding mass-evacuation procedures. ( we also introduced checklists, SOP's and simulator training some years ago to the Maritime World, now trying to do the same in the Operation Theatres)

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With regards to elevators, as soon as the alarm is sounded, the Electrical Engineer whose duty is elevator maintenance goes to all the elevators and places them in "firefighter" mode, just like on land (cannot be called from a deck, just operated from inside the cab). Elevators that are in the fire zone where a fire is detected will automatically go to midway up the shaft and stop, to act as blocks to fire/smoke spreading up the "chimney" of the elevator shafts.

 

There have always been alternative muster locations, because any muster location within the same vertical fire zone as a fire will not be usable, and passengers will be directed to the alternate. Depending on the actual circumstance, the Captain can decide if the boats in the affected fire zone are usable or not, and if not, then passengers (and subsequently crew when they need to abandon ship, which is not at the same time as the passengers) will be directed to use boats/rafts in other locations.

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Interesting that last year on the Queen Victoria which has ample promenade deck space we mustered inside and would be taken out a door to the lifeboats. Very slick.

 

We were extremely disappointed when at our drill on the Noordam it was extremely difficult to hear due to the large fans behind us and the constantly chatting passengers in front. I finally said Shh then got angrily accosted while the two crew ignored the whole thing. Later other passengers thanked me as they could not hear either. Seems very unsafe and I was very surprised that the crew ignored the situation.

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