Healt Hazards and Boats. What Does Anyone Think?

[savageseadog]

It would seem with close quarters exposure to damp accommodation, unsavoury sanitation, dubious water systems and so on there are many health hazards on boats. Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example. There's also exposure to various chemicals.

What does anyone think?

 

[pvb]

Surely it depends on how clean you keep the boat? There's no reason for "unsavoury sanitation". Water systems don't have to be "dubious" - periodic cleaning is easy. Damp accommodation can be minimised, but can't be any worse than camping.

 

[awol]

It would seem with close quarters exposure to damp accommodation, unsavoury sanitation, dubious water systems and so on there are many health hazards on boats. Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example. There's also exposure to various chemicals.

What does anyone think?

Time to buy a new boat?

 

[lpdsn]

Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example.

I thought you needed warmth for leigionnaires disease.

 

[elton]

Adherence to basic hygiene practices will eliminate all but the most unlikely threats to health on a boat.

 

[cliveshelton]

It would seem with close quarters exposure to damp accommodation, unsavoury sanitation, dubious water systems and so on there are many health hazards on boats. Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example. There's also exposure to various chemicals.

What does anyone think?

Don't worry about Legionella. It is very slow to multiply even in the perfect conditions and only transmissible through inhalation of aerosols (air conditioning and shower heads etc.). As far as I am aware there are few implications for boaters although of course when there is an outbreak it can affect whole building populations. Those with aircon on their boats are most unlikely to use systems involving water cooling of the type used in multistorey buildings (water coooled through a curtain of water fed by a "lagoon" of water in the roofspace which needs treating regularly)

As for other hazards, I would worry about the risk of physical injury well before other health issues. Sensible respect for the hazards is key without spoiling the enjoyment.

 

[JumbleDuck]

It would seem with close quarters exposure to damp accommodation, unsavoury sanitation, dubious water systems and so on there are many health hazards on boats. Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example. There's also exposure to various chemicals.

What does anyone think?

We'd have seen the problem if there was one.

 

[prv]

Surely it depends on how clean you keep the boat? There's no reason for "unsavoury sanitation". Water systems don't have to be "dubious" - periodic cleaning is easy. Damp accommodation can be minimised, but can't be any worse than camping.

+1 to all that. Ariam's head gets more regular cleaning (when in use) than the bogs at home. I do my best to keep the fresh water system clean, no problems so far. The saloon is never damp; condensation overnight is sometimes a problem in the aft cabin but can be cleared and then prevented by propping the aft hatch open. The biggest health hazard (as opposed to injury risk) on board is probably the amount of butter, cream, salt, and bacon-fat in my mate's cooking

Pete

 

[savageseadog]

+1 to all that. Ariam's head gets more regular cleaning (when in use) than the bogs at home...........

What about the rest of her?

 

[prv]

What about the rest of her?

Probably still more than at home, as the end of a week's cruise is a natural point to give the whole place a good clean whereas at home I only do it when I feel like it or notice the place getting particularly grubby, and such incidents can be several weeks apart. In both places the galley / kitchen gets cleaned after cooking dinner, but as I often have a hot lunch at work and then a sandwich in the evening, whereas my aforementioned foodie mate cooks most nights we're on the boat, that happens more often afloat than ashore.

Pete

 

[Seajet]

I reckon the major threat to health on a boat is the boom and sheet; one doesn't have to be hit on the head by the boom* for trouble; I know someone who was on a fairly big boat in the Med' when the boat was allowed to gybe accidentally, he was in way of the mainsheet which flicked then crushed him against a winch, breaking his pelvis and various other bones.

It took hours motoring to get to a Greek hospital ( where he was treated very well I'm told ) - I can't imagine what torture that trip must have been.

* I once took part, along with many other boats after a VHF request from SolentCG, for a search in the Eastern Solent for a lady who had been hit on the head by a boom and was thought to have gone in unconscious.

There were lots of boats,maybe 30, later a lifeboat and helo, but we never found her.

It was a F5-6 with lots of white wavecrests, and she was wearing white waterproofs, I am completely convinced if she had sensible red or yellow waterproofs she would have been saved.

I get very angry when I see ' trendy ' white waterproofs and cannot understand why they haven't been banned; if not by law, by a tacit agreement among manufacturers.

 

[nigelmercier]

Don't worry about Legionella. It is very slow to multiply even in the perfect conditions and only transmissible through inhalation of aerosols (air conditioning and shower heads etc.)...

I think the shower head could be a problem, I always flush mine with hot water before use. I've been infected by this nasty bug, I don't want it again.

 

[johnalison]

We have cruised for 44 years. I think our career total of injuries and diseases consists of:
One broken collarbone in a 2yr old
A bad dose of diarrhoea in another child
Assorted bruises
Half a dozen feverish illness in the skipper lasting a day or so
Shingles
A grazed knee from falling ashore
Another grazed knee from a cycling fall
Bruised fingers from brain-failure by the skipper during a gybe
One cough lasting a few weeks
An infected finger

 

[LittleSister]

It would seem with close quarters exposure to damp accommodation, unsavoury sanitation, dubious water systems and so on there are many health hazards on boats. Legionnaires disease you would imagine being an issue for example. There's also exposure to various chemicals.

What does anyone think?

Toughens you up? Good for the moral fibre?

 

[Boathook]

Not a problem imho. But if you go looking for a problem .............

 

[salar]

Biggest health problem is falling over the side.

 

[superheat6k]

Why to carry out a Risk Assessment and Method Statement - then that can completely ruin any enjoyment of your sailing, just as it has done for the modern workplace. Still having reams of paper written in non plain English is bound to stop you coming to harm eh.

i can introduce you to quite a few Health & Safety 'community' members we have to endure via our clients - amazed some of them get to work each day.

 

[Hydrozoan]

What counts as 'Health' as opposed to 'Safety'? The OP's examples seem to me to be the former category, but many of the examples raised seem to me to be in the latter. Is there an offical or accepted distinction?

 

[William_H]

Why to carry out a Risk Assessment and Method Statement - then that can completely ruin any enjoyment of your sailing, just as it has done for the modern workplace. Still having reams of paper written in non plain English is bound to stop you coming to harm eh.

i can introduce you to quite a few Health & Safety 'community' members we have to endure via our clients - amazed some of them get to work each day.

I disagree in that a written Risk Assessment can in some situations have a great value. If things really go bad as in fronting to a coroners court about your dillignece as a skipper you would be pleased to be able to show a document you prepared before the tragedy. Not really necessary for a private pleasure sailor but well worth the effort for clubs and sailing schools. (if not an obligation)
It is simply a list of possible things that can go wrong affecting health and safety. (and hence the safety of the boat) Firstly you list all the likely things that can go wrong or harm you. Alongside you rate the likely hood of these things happening, then the severity of the harm and again in the next column what you can do to minimise the occurence. This last should also rate the cost or inconvenience of doing what you have to to minimise the danger.

So fire is a danger on a boat. From experience news reports etc we know that boats do occasionally burn. We know that petrol powered inboards and gas powered cooking and heating can be worse risk. Outcome of a fire can be serious. We can minimise the risk with regular testing of gas systems, bilge ventilation, gas sensors, flame shut off devices and a range of other devices and practices to minimise risk for both petrol and gas. To a lesser degree there is a risk for cooking and diesel engines.Including fire extingusihers. You would list what remedies are actually taken and possibly those that are not practical or too expensive to employ. It is valid of course to say that a particular remedy is too expensive within the scope of your boating. You would also list what habits or procedures can reduce the risk.
It is not a matter of going overboard with safety but just being realistic about what you decide to do. realistic and ballanced in approach rather than obsessive on any particular thing.
So that is the way to approach Health and Safety firstly by getting as much information as possible to enable you to assess the risks. Hence OP's question. Then of sensibly assessing those risks and what you do about them. General opinion does not rate Legionaires disease or similar diseases of damp environment as high on risk. Especially considering your nation's history of sea going in damp ships. Plenty of other health risks. good luck olewill