Ship Repair Yard Research Articles

ON SOME ACTIVITIES IN PREVENTING SEA POLLUTION PERFORMED IN THE MERCHANT MARINE OF THE U.S.S.R.

ABSTRACT To implement the comprehensive program of preventing sea pollution from shipping, about 400 floating environmental craft for 60 ports and 17 shore reception facilities have been built in the U.S.S.R., which has prevented the spilling of more than 350,000 tons of oil annually into the sea. The program foresees a maximum unification of technologies and equipment. In the field of combating oil spills and cleaning port areas, tests of the oil recovery ship Svetlomor have been performed. The ship is a reconstructed tanker of 10,000 deadweight tons, which has a maximum effectiveness of oil recovery of 72.4 percent. The weir-type intake system has been positively demonstrated. On the basis of model experiments and tests of the Soviet standard port oil and debris skimmer in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ?HMSETT facility, a number of units have been improved, which will substantially increase the effectiveness of oil skimming in rough seas. The experience of combating a spill of about 17,000 tons of oil from the tanker Globe Asimi in the port of Klaipeda has suggested ways to improve personnel training and to increase the availability of technical means. As a result of investigations and experiments performed in the U.S.S.R., the principal interactions between continuous oil slicks and waves have been worked out. The results showed there is a considerable damping of short wavelength waves, especially in shallow waters. Model tests have proven the theoretical possibility of oil collection at a speed of 3-to-4 knots with the use of a weir-type intake. Within the framework of prevention of marine pollution by oil, the U.S.S.R. has built and put into operation 22 shore-based traffic guidance systems (TGS). Centralized systems now are being created for zones of heavy traffic. In compliance with MARPOL 73/78, the existing fleet is being refitted on the base of unified plans. In particular, methods of updating ships’ drainage and sludge collection systems have been developed, resulting in a 2-to-3 times decrease of the required volume of the collecting tank. A simple, automatic division of the ballast pumped ashore from tankers into high and low oil-content water has enabled an increase in the capacity of the existing facilities without increasing their area. The use of a complex system of water and heat consumption, and treatment of discharges from ship repair yards has prevented the discharge into the sea of noxious substances, and improved the economy of water and fuel. The extensive dredging work performed in the ports of the U.S.S.R. has been put under scientific and legal control due to the danger of pollution of the coastal zones. Standards have been developed for the protection of the marine environment.

Lead exposure of welders and bystanders in a ship repair yard.

Blood samples were collected from 126 long-term ship repair workers and 42 retirees. Lead concentrations were determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Three groups with different degrees of lead exposure were identified: (1) 59 welders, burners, and combination men (median blood lead, 39 micrograms/100 ml); (2) 67 painters, laborers, shipfitters, riggers, and other ship repair workers (median blood lead, 26 micrograms/100 ml); and (3) 42 retired welders, painters, and shipfitters (median blood lead, 23 micrograms/100 ml). Thirty active ship repair workers, including 28 welders and burners, had blood lead concentrations above the OSHA "action level" of 40 micrograms/100 ml. Increased levels in several men without direct exposures to lead were apparently caused by "bystander's exposure." In the retirees, blood lead levels decreased with increasing length of retirement. Thus, after eight or more years, the average level was below 20 micrograms/100 ml.

Developing a programme of testing for trainee craftsmen in the shipbuilding industry

The Shipbuilding Industry Training Board and the Skills Testing Service of the City and Guilds of London Institute, in cooperation with a number of leading shipyards, have developed phased test programmes for eight of the principal craft trades in the shipbuilding and shiprepairing industry. These tests are intended for trainee craftsmen who have completed their first year's training off‐the‐job in a training centre and are undergoing planned experience training in their yards to the standard recommended by the Shipbuilding Industry Training Board. The tests cover the trades of electrician, fitter, joiner, pipeworker, sheet‐metal worker, caulker/burner/driller/riveter, plater/shipwright and welder. A test programme covers all the main tasks or key skills normally performed by skilled men in the trade. Each job test is assessed according to success or failure in covering its essential features. Tests are taken by trainees in the course of production in the yard and are assessed by production staff. The preparation of each set of tests began with a study in a shipyard to find out what work a trainee would be expected to cover during his planned experience training. The test jobs drawn up as a result of this study were carefully scrutinised by production supervisors from other shipbuilding and shiprepair yards. A number of firms were invited to conduct a pilot project using the tests for a number of trainees in their second, third and fourth years of training. The tests were amended in the light of reports received on these projects and grouped to cover the key skills involved. An assessment was then made of either the number of jobs or the particular jobs, the satisfactory completion of which was considered to be essential to qualify for the Board's Certificate of Craftsmanship. This project, which was begun in November 1969 and completed in March 1972, and involved some eighteen firms in the industry, is described in the following account provided by some of the people involved.

Prevalence of chronic respiratory disease. Asbestosis in ship repair workers.

Study of pipe coverers, pipe fitters, and welders at a ship repair yard indicated that pipe coverers had more changes in their lungs, as evidenced by examination of x-ray films, and slightly lower pulmonary function than the other two groups. All groups showed slightly lowered pulmonary function as compared with workers who did new-ship construction and were not exposed to asbestos. Aerometric measurement showed levels of asbestos that were, in general, lower than current threshold limit values. These findings reemphasize the need for control of asbestos in the work areas, as well as careful medical surveillance of workers exposed to asbestos.

NIGHT VISION

F OR TWO years after the war began residents of the Territory of Hawaii lived under conditions of rigidly enforced nightly blackouts. The maintenance of vital public utilities, hospitals, docks, ship repair yards and scores of other essential activities, however, required that many employees continue their duties during the hours of blackout. It soon became evident that under conditions of absence of or greatly reduced artificial illumination some workers were less able to carry on their usual occupations than were others. The preponderance of those who were so handicapped were of Japanese ancestry. In the capacity of chief of the Light Control Section of the Office of the Military Governor of the Territory of Hawaii and as a practicing ophthalmologist, I had numerous occasions to observe this racial trend of inferior scotopic seeing ability. In 1943 I reported this observation to the Headquarters of the Army Air Forces, as I