A ship’s engine room houses the machinery necessary for propelling the vessel. This machinery must be maintained, but working in the engine room space can be dangerous. If you were hurt in an engine room accident, contact a maritime lawyer for advice and to seek compensation.
Why Are Engine Rooms on Ships Dangerous?
Engine rooms contain the machinery necessary to propel a ship, including steam or diesel engines, gas or steam turbines, and boilers. Other equipment in the engine room includes cooling systems and thrusters.
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Working in the engine room involves several potential hazards. The primary dangers are related to heat and combustible substances. Fires and explosions are among the most common accidents in engine rooms.
The volatile and toxic substances in the engine room can also cause harm without proper ventilation. Workers can inhale these substances. The crowded space in the engine room can lead to trips, falls, strikes, and other types of accidents that cause physical injuries.
Electrical systems in the engine room, if not used properly, can cause shock injuries. Finally, the engine room is loud. Without proper protection, workers can suffer hearing loss.
What Types of Injuries Occur in Engine Room Accidents?
The potential for fire and explosion puts engine room workers at high risk for serious injuries or even death. Workers in this space can die in an explosion or fire, from inhaling toxic fumes, from being asphyxiated, or when trapped in the space without a way to escape during an accident.
Workers involved in engine room accidents are vulnerable to a variety of injury types:
- Burns
- Respiratory damage
- Cuts
- Sprains and strains
- Broken bones
- Crush injuries
- Back injuries
- Head trauma
- Electrical shocks
- Hearing loss
What Causes Engine Room Accidents?
The heat and combustible and toxic substances in an engine room make this space vulnerable to accidents, but they should be preventable. Mistakes that can lead to accidents in the engine room include:
- Improperly maintained equipment
- Defective or faulty equipment
- Inadequate training of workers
- Lack of safety training, protocols, or protective gear
- Lack of communication between workers
- Crowded spaces with trip hazards
- Slippery surfaces
- Inadequate lighting
- Electrical failures
Examples of Engine Room Accidents on Ships
There are plenty of real-world examples of accidents occurring in ship engine rooms. These incidents cause injuries and, in some cases, fatalities.
Severe Burns in Engine Room Incident
An incident that occurred on a bulk carrier in 2020 left an engineer with severe burns. He opened an inspection plug on the sludge discharge line on a fuel oil separator in the engine room. This resulted in hot sludge covering his arms and legs.
The engineer failed to detect pressure in the line and opened the inspection plug too soon after the separator had been turned off. He also failed to wear adequate safety gear. The hot sludge came into direct contact with his skin, which made his resulting injuries worse.
Engine Room Fire
A fire started in the engine room of a tanker in waters near Staten Island in 2022, causing over $1 million in damages but fortunately no injuries. A fuel injector pump on the starboard engine sprayed oil on nearby hot surfaces, starting the fire.
Investigations found that an engineer failed to follow the correct procedure for reassembling the fuel injector pump after performing maintenance. Fortunately, the crew responded swiftly and correctly to the fire, removing sources of oxygen and fuel in the engine room and activating the fire extinguisher system.
Engine Room Explosion and Fatalities
Two workers died in an engine room explosion aboard Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship in March 2024. An engineer and wiper were installing filters when a steam compensator exploded. A thermal expansion joint known as a steam bellow failed, which caused the explosion.
Other crew members responded to the steam release by issuing an alarm. This resulted in the closure of watertight doors and shutting down ventilation to the space before the two crew members could be evacuated. This mistake led to their deaths. The cause of the expansion joint failure is under investigation.
What to Do if You Were Hurt in an Engine Room Accident
The first thing you should do after an accident is get medical treatment. After receiving care, ensure that the incident has been reported as soon as possible. Follow the chain of command when making or adding to a report.
Keep a record of the incident report and your associated medical treatments. These will help you seek compensation later. Talk to a maritime lawyer to determine your options for recovering damages for medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses.
Maritime law can be complicated, but these experienced lawyers understand the laws and which apply to your situation. As a worker in a ship’s engine room, you are likely covered by the Jones Act, which provides a way to seek compensation after an accident.