P&I club publishes CD on how to avoid collisions in restricted visibility

The North of England P&I club has produced an interactive CD guide on how to avoid collisions in restricted visibility. It aims to help reduce the costly yet unnecessary accidents that happen all too regularly between ships unable to see each other properly.

‘We believe one of the main reasons for restricted visibility accidents is that watch keepers are not applying the International Regulations for Prevention of Collisions at Sea properly,’ says the club’s loss-prevention executive Tony Baker. ‘Though technical developments such as ARPA are designed to improve navigational safety, they are no substitute for understanding and applying the Colregs correctly.’

The new interactive CD leads watch keepers through the relevant parts of the Colregs and how they should be applied in restricted visibility. It focuses in particular on Rule 19 on conduct of vessels in restricted visibility as well as other key rules which apply in all conditions, such as Rule 7 on risk of collision and Rule 8 on action to avoid a collision.

Users are taken through interactive radar simulations to help them learn techniques to avoid collisions and close-quarters situations in accordance with the Colregs. Further radar simulations are provided for self-assessment, with users being asked to identify which vessels on the radar screen represent a risk and what the correct avoiding action should be.

A copy of the CD is being distributed to all 2700 ships entered in the 50 million GT club. It follows North of England’s two-year poster campaign to raise awareness of key parts of the Colregs, including a specific poster on Rule 19, plus an expert guide on using and interpreting the rules published in May this year.

The CD, poster sets and expert guide are all available to non-members from Anchorage Press, telephone +44 (0)20 8892 9905, email mail@anchoragepress.co.uk, web www.anchoragepress.co.uk. The CD and expert guide cost £30 each and the poster sets cost £40.