2015 SUMMARY OF MGHCP MEETING

SUMMARY OF PROGRAM

TOTAL CERTIFIED CHEMISTS = 95

During 2015 one chemist retired and one new chemist was certified # 725

Total Marine Chemists with FCLC Endorsement on 12/31/14 = 36

Total Marine Chemists Re Certificated ‐in 2014 = 13

Number of trainees in the program at the end of 2014 = 28

CERTIFICATES36,600 certificates were issued in 2014*

There were 51 Chemists in EMCC program at end of 2014

Number of EMCC certificates issued in 2014 is 17,324 (50%)

General Information In 2014 Training Modules 1 – 9 were revised

NFPA transitioned to electronic reporting forms for the monthly reports and for the quarterly surcharge

Training examinations were converted to electronic format

NFPA established a task group on LNG to make recommendation's on how to change both 306 and training to ensure safe working conditions on these vessels.

22 chemists who do not have the FLCC endorsement have taken the test

NFPA presented 18 confined space programs

General MCQB Information The MCQB examined twenty‐three (23) occurrence reports in 2014.

There was no disciplinary hearings held as a result of any of the fire or injury events reported in 2014.

One third of the reported incidents occurred on vessels that did not have a Marine Chemist’s Certificate posted on the vessel.

One half of the incidents on vessels where there was a Marine Chemist’s Certificate were not related to the chemist’s inspection or the posted Certificate.

In one case a fire was caused because the vessel repairer ignored the hot work prohibition written twice on the Certificate.

Fires remain the predominant event with fifteen occurrences reported.

MCQB Of the incidents reported by marine chemists, three resulted in

fatalities and four incidents caused injury to workers. The fatalities and of the two injury accidents occurred on vessels which had no Marine Chemist’s Certificate.

More incidents occurred on military vessels than any other vessel type followed closely by cargo vessels. Only one incident was recorded for a tank vessel and that barge did not have a Marine Chemist’s Certificate on it at the time of the accident.

Fuel tanks and machinery spaces once again were the spaces where most accidents occurred during the past twelve months.

MCQB

Often there was more than one causal factor that resulted in an incident. The list ofprobable causes for the occurrences reported in 2014 are presented below. Thenumber in parenthesis indicates that this cause was reported in more than one incident:

Entry into an inerted space.

Hot work ignited Class A combustible materials that were within 35 feet of the hot work (3)

No fire watch (4)

Failure to follow or ignoring the marine chemists written instructions (2)

Hot work ignited insulation material (2)

Hot work ignited preservative coating

Cutting torch assembly leaked oxygen and or fuel gas

A grinder was used in close proximity to a fuel gas cylinder that was leaking flammable gas

Poor lighting

Unguarded manhole

Failure to test cutting torch assembly for leaks

Failure to satisfactorily flush a pipeline

Failure to maintain pipeline isolation

Shipyard competent person failed to do a satisfactory visual inspection

Electrical short‐circuit

Acetone soaked rags were deposited next to a portable halogen lamp

Failure to secure steel plate that was being cut with a torch

Entry into an untested confined space (2)

Anode decay and generation of hydrogen gas

Failure to maintain conditions (test results) documented on Marine Chemist’s Certificate

Failure of the competent person to retest a space for oxygen, flammable vapo rand toxic gas (4)

Lack of firefighting equipment in the vicinity of the hot work

Hot work on an untested/uninspected fuel tank that still contained fuel or residue (2)

Unauthorized shipbreaking

MCQB The Board looked at the Occurrence Reports of the previous

five years to see if there was any relationship between the length of time a Certificate was posted on a vessel and when a hot work related incident occurred. The results of the study showed that the length of time a Certificate is posted on a vessel is not by itself a definitive factor in whether an accident occurs or not. Failing to maintain safe conditions in accordance with NFPA 306 and OSHA 1915 plays a bigger role in the likelihood of accident occurrence. All accidents are preventable. What the review of these incidents did show was that frequent testing of hot work locations and adjacent spaces and conducting a proper visual inspection are essential for preventing accidents.

MCQB and LNG

Changes made to Section V.A.2 Flammable Cryogenic Liquid Carriers Endorsement and Section V.B.1 Flammable Cryogenic Liquids Carrier Endorsement Renewal:

Specify the type of field training required for obtaining the original endorsement and renewing the endorsement.

Allows marine chemists to attend as many as 30 US Coast Guard approved training classes offered by merchant marine academies, merchant mariner union schools and other facilities that utilize LNG transfer simulators.

Allows the MCQB to consider other appropriate LNG fuel system or LNG cargo system training.

MCQB Discovery of a Fraudulent Marine Chemist’s Certificate. In

August 2014 the NFPA was alerted to the existence of a fraudulent Marine Chemist’s Certificate on a US‐Flagged vessel in the Philippines. The MCQB Secretary and Counsel worked with the vessel owner and American Bureau of Shipping to attempt to locate the person who wrote the certificate. The person who wrote the phony certificate was not located. A letter was sent to the local ship agent advising him that the individual is not a Certificated Marine Chemist and his use of an older version of an NFPA copyright protected document was not authorized. The US Coast Guard Activities Far East office was advised of our discovery and action taken.

MCA In 2014 there were 15 chemists at the Atlantic Sectional Meeting, 16

chemists at the Gulf-Central Seminar, and 12 chemists at the Pacific meeting. Additionally three trainees attended the seminars. Therefore, including the chemists who provided the training (but not counted more than once) 53 chemists took part in the Sectional Training Seminars.

At the annual seminar in Las Vegas, thirty three chemists were in attendance, 1 member of the MCQB, 2 trainees and 1 GFE. Additionally, 44 spouses, children and interested parties attended for a total of 81 attendees.

The entire $7500 budget for speakers was used in 2014 to bring the speakers to the seminar.

The Renaissance Hotel, in St. Louis, MO. has been selected as the site of the 2015 seminar. It will be held August 3-5, 2015.

Two applicants applied for and were awarded the scholarship during 2014 and the MCA gave out $7500 in scholarships. The winners were:

 Katelyn Rioux, granddaughter of Ed Willwerth

Ashley Dean, daughter of Robert Dean 687

MCA Website. An effort has been made to ensure the information is

current. Please review your listing and ensure it is correct

By-Laws. Voting on the most recent revision of the by-laws was completed in February

The MCA currently has 94 members. One chemist is not a member of the MCA. We also have 3 affiliate members

Budget The MCA requested a grant of $151,000 from the MGHCP to support

running the MCA and it was accepted. About $100,000 goes to paying for seminars and meetings, the balance is for salaries, scholarships, gifts, awards and office supplies,

Based on 36,000 certificates the program receives about 540K per year. To support the MCA and the NFPA, a current income of about $560 is needed. The additional income comes from SCP courses put on by NFPA.

A discussion was held on raising the per certificate fee. NFPA stated that the number of SCP classes they taught would fall off and the amount of income generated would fall. The MGHCF felt that they had enough reserve make up the shortfall if the NFPA, SCP training classes income fell without a fee increase for a year two.