Hot surfaces in ship engine rooms are the risk objects that most frequently contribute to fire ignition. Thermography, especially when using thermal cameras, offers many advantages over more common infrared thermometers, but dedicated systems are often prohibitively expensive. An affordable hybrid approach was thus tested in this study, where a low-cost thermal camera smartphone was paired with a common infrared thermometer. Measurements were taken in situ during a sea voyage in an engine room under normal operating conditions, and the surfaces of the main engine, the generating set auxiliary engine, and the exhaust gas boiler were tested. Several areas were discovered to be well above the generally-accepted temperature limit of 220°C, primarily due to absent or poor insulation. Clear recommendations for remediation are made, and the proposed testing method offers fast, easy, effective, and affordable inspection.

The paper describes current and future changes in regulations for marine fuel connected with sulphur oxides emission and the consequences of this process for shipowners and crews. Introducing new requirements concerning fuels caused appearing specific operating problems. The problems connected with exploitation after limiting of sulphur oxides emission refers mainly to protection of the fuel system (fuel injection pumps and injection valves). From the point of view of operating’s safety and a vessel itself, it is essential that engines, pumps, boilers and boiler burners are properly prepared for servicing and burning of low-sulphur fuels. The changes extorted the preparation of procedures of entrances and exits form the ECA zone and recommendations for shipowners and crews use. Shipowners carry out analytical research upon the influence of applied fuel upon safety of operating marine power plants, upon technical condition of operated machinery. Crews are trained in the scope of implementing the described changes. The other groups of problems are these connected with increase of operating costs and the danger of sea logistics roads transfer to road ones

Safety of navigation is a complex problem which consists of many aspects. Seagoing and the level of training contribute to one making the right decisions in accordance with the principles of conduct. Crew training takes place at sea, as well as in maritime training centres. The article describes the safety problems of a warship in the event of fires in various regions of the vessel, hull puncture and unsealing. The problems connected with the identification of damage, its types and methods and tools to repair it have been described. The simulator of damage control has been described and scenarios of events which can be simulated have been presented. One of the scenarios – fire in the engine room – has been chosen and the course of the training with the use of the HOMAR OPA (organization of operations against fire and water), simulator produced by The Autocomp company for the Navy Training Center in Ustka, has been described. The main subjects of trainings are connected with fire safety, fire simulation, fire fighting, hull damages, water and fire defence, investigating damages, warship survivability, repair works etc. The trainings with the use of the simulator include preparation procedures for removing the hull damage and equipment failures as part of the process of securing the proper equipment to fight with water and fires, development of methods for detecting the inflow of water and fire, preparation of procedures to fight with water and fire, training of the crew to fight fires and water. The OPA simulator has been developed on the basis of the latest computer technology, with the use of large-size projection on the screen in the form of a cylinder’s segment

The paper characterizes an engine room as a place of a fire’s origin and its spread. It presents potential sources of fire and fire protection onboard. Examples of international rules and regulations are described as well. It also gives the statistics and some scenarios for fires and some recommendations for machine spaces. It presents problems of engine room fire safety, understood as a result of the analysis of different criteria. The engine room was chosen for analysis because many factors whose presence result in a fire could be found there in the way of combustible materials: fuel oil, lubrication oil, hydraulic oil and thermal oil consumed by the main engine, generator engine, boiler, thermal oil heater and hydraulic oil equipment, paints, solvents etc. Sources of po- tential fires are mainly the hot surfaces of exhaust gas pipes, turbochargers, boilers and waste oil incinerators, ignitions, sparks, static electricity etc. In addition, many engine room fires have an electrical source, such as electrical short-circuits and thermal overheating in the switchboards. Approximately 70% of fires in the engine room have typical scenarios: the outflow of combustible liquid and contact with a hot surface and can reach temperatures between 700–1000°C. They spread rapidly, their power and dynamism depending on the intensity of the outflow of the combustible liquid and its properties, but also the local conditions and the geometry of engine room as well. Fire safety in engine rooms is determined both by good design and the company’s and crew’s focus on fire prevention. Some of the recommendations are high standards of cleanliness in the engine room, regular checks of materials used for insulating high temperature surfaces, attention to fire risks when repairs and maintenance works are carried out and many other factors.

The human factor is one of the main reasons for fires in engine rooms and most of the scenarios are very similar. Fires in engine rooms are usually associated with fuel or oil leaking onto a hot surface. Furthermore, engine rooms are very inhospitable places to work. Noise, vibration and high temperatures are most frequently mentioned by crews as negative factors that influence their work. The adoption of a safety culture is one of the ways to increase the fire safety level in engine rooms. Understanding and accepting the necessity of building a safety culture among engine room crews can effectively influence their standard of work. Safety management procedures are an important part of building a safety culture. The change in labor standards must be built on a safety culture among crews.

Photovoltaic (PV) fires are very rare but when they do occur the consequences can be serious for facilities and first responders, especially in the event of a fire on a ship or a yacht. The causes of fires mainly relate to the electrical installation (e.g., poorly designed systems, incorrectly installed equipment, faulty connections, defective products, overvoltage, and voltage surges) but also to defects and damage of the panels themselves (such as scratches, microcracks, etc.). Thermography is a useful method for quickly detecting local temperature increases, which may indicate incorrect operation of the electrical installation and panel, resulting from their incorrect configuration, faults, or damage. Local increases in temperature (hot spots) may increase the risk of fire. The laboratory tests carried out on the photovoltaic system allowed for the illustration of the temperature distribution of the PV panel, electricity receiver, and electrical connections in real conditions.