Safety of Lives at Sea

Working at sea can be one of the most rewarding and fulfilling careers. But you can’t gloss over the fact that it can be dangerous. Whether you’re working on a tanker, ploughing up and down the oceans, a Superyacht enjoying a busy season of charters, or any vessel in between; our love/hate relationship buddy Neptune takes no prisoners!

The Safety of Lives at Sea (SOLAS) Convention in its successive forms is generally regarded as the most important of all international treaties concerning the safety of merchant and other vessels. 

The first version was adopted in 1914, in response to the Titanic disaster, and went through several iterations up to 1974. The Convention in force today is generally referred to as SOLAS 1974, as amended. SOLAS regulations cover all areas of safety at sea, including construction, fire prevention and detection, life saving equipment, cargo carriage, navigation, communications and a host of other areas. 

Regulation 33 of the SOLAS Convention applies to all ships, and places an obligation on Masters to respond to distress calls at sea and proceed ‘with all speed’ to their assistance.

Anyone working in the maritime sector, hopes that they are never on the receiving end of this regulation, but we’ve experienced two quite different instances, where the ships we work with have responded and our Medical teams have played an important part in rendering aid.

For the first instance, we were notified of a medical report for a ‘shark bite’. Not exactly a daily occurrence, or what you expect to see in your inbox! First thoughts were relief that it wasn’t any of our crew or passengers. But, it was a real life example of SOLAS at work, when a nearby yacht issued a distress call, and the Master responded. The onboard Doctor was taken to the yacht where he stabilised the recipient of the bite and took them back to the ship so that he could treat the injury further in the hospital there. Happily the quick response and treatment have helped to maximise the chances of the best possible outcome for the patient.

Similarly, another ship in a very remote location received a distress call from a smaller vessel requesting medical aid. This was for a patient with abdominal pain and assistance was requested as our ship had more extensive medical facilities than the one the patient was on. In this case the Master increased speed and was able to rendezvous in a sheltered location. The patient was transferred to the hospital onboard for a full assessment. The patient was stabilised, but required a medical evacuation and was transferred back to their original ship, with medication and instructions for their medics, in order for this to take place.

So, why are we telling you about this? 

For anyone who has been to sea, the ocean is big and can be unfriendly, so it’s vital that we look after each other. It may be a requirement when it’s possible, but it’s also an incredible thing to be able to do for another human being. Remember that even if it’s all in a day’s work for you, it could be life or death, and certainly life changing for them. 

It makes us incredibly proud that the ships, Masters and Medical Teams that we work with were able to comply with international SOLAS regulations on these two occasions, and support other ocean goers who needed help. Congratulations to everyone involved in these two incidents and we wish both patients a speedy recovery.