Science Party Load Handling Equipment

Introduction

The science party and third parties, such as vehicle operators, are welcome to bring their own load handling equipment including, winches, tension members (wires), blocks, terminations, launch and recovery systems (LARSs), etc.  Any such load handling equipment must be identified and declared at the beginning of the cruise planning process and a minimum of five months notice must be given.  The Load Handling Equipment form is also due five months prior to departure.

Falkor (too) may not have the load handling equipment needed to undertake your desired operations.  In this case, the science party must provide the necessary resources.  Details on what the ship has (and doesn't have) are listed here, part of the Science Equipment and Facilities document.  Of particular note, Falkor (too) doesn't have any medium duty winches or wires or a mooring winch and mooring blocks.

Please read this page before completing the Load Handling Equipment Form.

Requirements

• • All equipment must be in good working order and be examined and tested to prior to shipping to the vessel.  Please do not bring borrowed or leased equipment that has not been thoroughly tested by your group.

  • The following documentation is required:

    • Load Handling Equipment Form.  Please fill out a separate form for each component of a system.  For example, a winch with a wire, termination and block would get four forms.

    • Safe working load (SWL) documentation and/or Minimum Breaking Load for each individual component of a load handling system.  Documentation must be no more than five years old (two years old for tension members, i.e. wires) at the completion of the cruise and must be from the manufacturer or from a Competent Person (certified load tester), defined below.  The Safe Working Load ratios listed below must be followed as the minimum SWL to breaking strength ratios allowed on  FALKOR (too).

    • Certificate of conformity from the manufacturer.

    • Ability to individually identify and trace each piece of equipment (e.g. a serial number).

    • Please provide all forms and information with metric values.

  • Before filling out the form please ensure that you have the following information available

    • Equipment details

    • Equipment owner

    • Equipment weight

    • Safe working load (kg or kN)

    • Minimum breaking strength (kg or kN)

    • Factor of safety

    • Date of manufacture

    • Date of last service

    • Date of last certification

    • Documents outlined above

    • How the equipment secures to the vessel

    • How the equipment is powered 

Certification Competent Person Definition

A Competent Person is defined by law as “a person possessing the knowledge or experience necessary for the performance of the duties under these regulations”. Such knowledge and experience can be obtained in a variety of ways, for example a Competent Person might obtain the necessary knowledge through training provided by the manufacturer of the equipment, or by in-house or on-the-job training provided within the organization or on the ship.

The Company defines a “Competent Person” differently for different tasks, as per the following table:

Safe Working Loads and Factors of Safety

Safe Working Loads may be determined by applying a Factor of Safety to a Minimum Breaking Load.  The Factor of Safety required ranges from 2 to 5 depending on tension monitoring and other factors relating to the design of the load handling system.  Additionally, if there is no tension monitoring, a dynamic factor of 1.75 must be applied to allow for dynamic acceleration forces cause by a moving ship.

While Falkor is not a member of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), Schmidt Ocean Institute's load handling equipment (and many other policies) are in alignment with UNOLS' Research Vessel Safety Standards (RVSS) including appendices A & B.  

Examples:

Example 1: Winch, wire, block and termination system with the weakest component having a Minimum Breaking Load of 2,000kg, without tension monitoring:

2,000kg / 5 = 400kg   A factor of safety of five must be applied as there is no tension monitoring

400kg / 1.75 = 228 kg  A further dynamic factor of 1.75 must be applied as there is no tension monitoring

With no tension monitoring, a system with a Minimum Breaking Load of 2,000kg can be used with a package with an air weight of no more than 228kg.  Note the severe restriction to package weight when no tension monitoring is available.

Example 2: Winch, wire, block and termination system with the weakest component having a Minimum Breaking Load of 2,000kg, with tension monitoring:

Assuming the tension monitoring and other attributes of the system meet the requirements for a Factor of Safety of 2.5 (outlined in the table below)...

2,000kg / 2.5 = 800kg   A factor of safety of 2.5 is applied

No further dynamic factor is required

With tension monitoring allowing for a Factor of Safety of 2.5, a system with a Minimum Breaking Load of 2,000kg can be used with a package with an air weight of no more than 800 kg.

Factor of Safety Criteria