Costa Concordia: implications evacuation provisions

[dingoboy]

First up my back ground is aviation, (cabin crew for 20+ years) and hence I have more than a passing interest in evacuation procedures.

 

Despite the horror of this incident and the trauma caused to all those on board -( including the hope that more survivors will be found) - from an analytical *perspective there is much that can and should be learnt from this incident with regards to the current evacuation provisions including if regulations need to be amended.*

 

In aviation the test most governing bodies require across the globe to satisfy an air operators license is that airlines must be able to prove that they can evacuate an entire aircraft in 90 seconds using only half of the available exits. When you consider the new A380 can have close to 600 people on board that is no small accomplishment.*

 

I'd be very interested to know if there is a similar 'test' used to certify cruise ship operators.*

 

I mention this because on my most recent cruise last Nov on Celebrity Eclipse I took more than a passing interest in the evacuation drill. The next day while walking the decks I took note of the number of life boats, specifically the tender capacity, and the capacity when used as a life boat. These figures vary as an evacuation calls for people to be crammed together to an extremely uncomfortable degree. Much more so than when used as a tender.

 

My little investigation of number of life boats and the stated legal capacity of each (approx 250) resulted in a rather shocking discovery.*

 

There simply weren't enough life boats for the number of passengers and crew onboard. *I went back over my calculations several times and asked other people to check them. I can't remember the exact numbers, but end result was a missing capacity of about 1000 people..*

 

It was a puzzle that took me several hours to solve. And the answer was one I found quite shocking.*

 

Celebrity had designed the Silhouette *class of ships without a life boat for every person on board. Instead they had fitted what I've since discovered are called in the industry jargon to be "maritime evacuation devices". *

 

These are 'truly amazing' pieces of equipment which appear to have evolved from the escape slides used in aviation.*

 

And escape slides are exactly what they are. They are launched from the deck where traditional *life boats are located, which can be as high as 6-8 decks above the water.*

 

Enormous life rafts inflate on the water at the base of the ship and very narrow chutes are attached from there right up to the boarding deck. The chutes are no more than a a few feet wide and go straight down to these massive rafts. *

 

I can't imagine how scary this would be in broad daylight in calm seas and no emergency. In the dark, during a real emergency it would be terrifying beyond belief.*

 

But the worst part for me was the stated capacity. Approximately 500 people.*

 

With my recurrent training*I've spent many exercises in an inflatable raft in a pool with 70 people for 30 minutes or more. Believe me it is sheer hell. 500 is beyond my comprehension.*

 

Don't get me wrong. I know in an emergency you just want to get to safety as quickly as possible and these inflatable devices might well be 'sufficient' for that purpose.*

 

My concerns revolve around the fact that cruise companies should have an obligation to inform people in their care that they are now fitting these devices in place of traditional life boats. And for many people on board this is the escape 'device' that has been allocated to them.*

 

As I said above there is no way I'd want to spend even a short time in an inflatable raft in calm water. Let alone rough dangerous seas.*

 

The question I had then, as now, why aren't passengers informed during the evacuation drill that their allocated escape vessel is actually a raft not a lift boat.*

 

And more intriguingly how are these allocated?*

 

My hunch is that any one in a cheap cabin gets a cheap raft to share with 500 people. Where as those in fancy suites get more durable, more comfortable and I dare suggest safer *physical 'boats' they only have to share with 200.*

 

This to me is the biggest problem in all of this. Much like the Titanic where the amount of money you paid had a direct correlation to your chance of survival.*

 

Everyone on board should be afforded exactly the same level of escape provisions regardless of what money they have paid.*

 

On some of these new mega ships this is simply not the case. And cruise companies up until now have avoided explaining this to the people who keep them afloat.*

 

After this tragic incident, we the public have a right to full and frank answers to questions such as these. *

[cdamion]

I don't know about the newest classes of ships, but ships only a few years old have enough boats and rafts (the smaller rafts that inflate when they hit the water) on each side of the ship for all of the passengers on board.

 

I can't even imagine what a 500-person raft would look like.

 

I also don't think that it is necessarily true that those in the highest accommodations would get the boats while steerage customers would get the inflatable sardine cans.

 

It seemed more to vary by your location on the ship. If you have a cheap interior across from a suite, you probably have the same muster station. That is what I have noticed when I've paid attention to who had to head where.

[reallyitsmema]

Oasis of the Seas uses the rafts and chutes the OP is referring to in his post. Here is a link to a drill that was posted on the RCL forum.

 

[dingoboy]

Web site ref:

viking-life.com/viking.nsf/public/products-fetchtradeingitemdata.html?opendocument&product=VEC-SINGLE

 

Not sure if that link will work. If not google

 

 

 

"Evacuation chute, type VIKING VEC (single chute)"

 

 

Evacuation chute, type VIKING VEC (single chute)

 

VIKING’s evacuation chute systems are the ideal solution for high sided

passenger vessels

 

 

High capacity passenger vessels need evacuation systems that deploy quickly and easily and provide fast, safe evacuation of all on board within 30 minutes. The fully enclosed Kevlar® lined chute is fire retardent and protects evacuees from severe weather conditions during descent and compensates for ship and sea movement during evacuation for safe transfer into the system liferafts.

 

VIKING systems are compact and discreet, requiring minimum deck space

Chute systems are specially designed to maximise deck space and sea view during storage. The VEC can be installed anywhere on board; on open deck, between decks in an open recess or built into the ship’s side. Additional liferafts can be stored in remote locations and released by pump at the evacuation point. The compact nature allows for fast and easy removal for servicing.

 

SOLAS requirements are minimum standards for VIKING

VIKING systems are tried and tested for capacity and stability in conditions at least matching, but often well above, those required for certification.

 

System features:

Evacuation capacity: 565 people in 30 minutes, or 317 in 17 min 40 sec (HSC)

Installation heights from 5 to 20 metres

Easy to deploy

Requires few crew to operate and little specialised training

Fewer inflatable components mean reduced servicing costs

Complies with all international regulations

Available with 2 or 3 high capacity 101 man liferafts

SOLAS emergency pack A or B

Reinforced Kevlar® chute for evacuee protection

 

Approved according to SOLAS, IMO, EC and USCG. For evacucation of 367 persons within 30 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NB. There is a great photo of exactly what these escape devices look like.

 

I can't post it here as I'm on my iPhone.

 

Also note one of the key advantages mentioned above in the sales spiel ...... Frees up deck space and ocean views. And hence the reason these are being fitted. It's dollars and cents not health and safety that is seeing these fitted to more and more cruise ships.

[reallyitsmema]

Here is a different type from a container ship.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUMYRVSA7TQ&feature=related

[cdamion]

Oasis of the Seas uses the rafts and chutes the OP is referring to in his post. Here is a link to a drill that was posted on the RCL forum.

 

 

The video made it look like the ship had a bowel movement.

[cdamion]

I can see this being almost necessary for the bigger ships because these devices look to speed up the evacuation process. On the other hand, I can see in an emergency situation people breaking limbs and falling on each other.

[sidari]

Oasis class ship Lifeboats can hold 311 people, the chutes primarily for crew can be seen on the programme made about the Oasis and shown on sky.

[ATLfuzzy]

Fascinating read. Well, they do move large volumes of people relatively quickly. Hopefully.

[PelicanBill]

These are terrifying. There should be a video and briefing about these. Imagine an emergency, sirens blaring, panic all around, in poorly lighted conditions, never having been told of this, and told to jump into a chute instead of boarding a lifeboat?

 

Also, did you see on the pictures of Concordia there are some inflatables also, hanging on the side of the boat that is out of the water? I wonder if any of these were successful in evacuation.

 

The cruise industry needs to wake up and do proper disaster planning just like the airlines do. Study this disaster carefully, learn from it, and implement better procedures and training.

 

And, cruise industry, wake up on helping the surviviors. Overall, the airlines have learned how to mobilize people to help the victims and family and do a decent job. This event, with the world's largest cruise company, shows they need an emergency plan that puts people enroute to the scene within hours using chartered jets and a standard "assistance package" that puts food, shelter and clothing in the hands of victims on the first day of the disaster.

 

Given the small sizes and limited economies of many places that cruise ships call, the emergency plan needs to include cots, tents, and MREs just like a red cross disaster plan. This was Italy, for crying out loud, and it was terrible for victims. Imagine if it was Dominica or Belize?

[reallyitsmema]

Oasis class ship Lifeboats can hold 311 people, the chutes primarily for crew can be seen on the programme made about the Oasis and shown on sky.

Correct, they hold crew training on these liferafts frequently. I have seen a few videos of it. Having passengers use these would be difficult but in an emergency, anything goes.

[AmoMondo]

Saw an interview on the BBC this morning with an English crew member (dancer). She said the boats were for passengers and the rafts for crew.

[wieslaw]

Fascinating read. Well, they do move large volumes of people relatively quickly. Hopefully.

 

Hi,

I wonder what happens if someone gets stuck in the shute - some people are a lot larger than others. The shute must have some dimensions that provide some resistance to the person that is going down ..... if the shute is too large the person will go down too quickly.

[ShipsAreTheBest]

As stated above, boats are for the passengers (and the necessary crew to operate them and care for the passengers). The liferafts are for the crew (although, in an emergency (a boat that fails to launch) could be used by the passengers as well).

[Lazz]

Most experts and non-experts alike will totally agree that the best life boat is the ship itself. The main emphasis should be to make sure that ship can stay aflot until it can get to saftey or help arrives. IMO, I think the invetigation will be on captain and crew actions/reactions and why (after the accident) the ship put those on board in a position where they had to escape the ship in such a panic-like manner

[Ozcruiser1]

For Australians on this forum , there is a documentary on SBS Television at 7.30pm this evening Monday (it's now 7.00pm in Eastern Australia)… It’s a BBC doco……

When Disaster Stikes

I guess for others it may available online.

When disaster strikes who lives and who dies is not purely a matter of luck. In every disaster, from those people face once in a lifetime, to those they face every day, there are things that can be done to increase the chances of getting out alive.

Horizon has gathered a team of leading experts to produce the ultimate guide to disaster survival. Through controversial experiments, computer simulations and analysis of hundreds of survivor testimonies from plane crashes to ferry disaster When disaster strikes who lives and who dies is not purely a matter of luck. In every disaster, from those people face once in a lifetime, to those they face every day, there are things that can be done to increase the chances of getting out alive.

Horizon has gathered a team of leading experts to produce the ultimate guide to disaster survival. Through controversial experiments, computer simulations and analysis of hundreds of survivor testimonies from plane crashes to ferry disasters and even 9/11, they will reveal what happens in the mind in the moment of crisis and how the human brain can be programmed for survival.

[Ozcruiser1]

Hi , Has the older forum closed and new pages and post numbers started??

Or have I gone wrong somewhere.... I dare not mention my "navigation" skills?