Ship Shore Safety Checklist: Solid Bulk
The ship shore interface for solid bulk cargoes: the BLU Code basis, the checklist items, and the hazard briefing owed to terminal staff.
The ship shore safety checklist for solid bulk cargoes is the document by which the master and the terminal representative confirm, before loading or discharge begins, that each side understands the other’s limits. Its basis is the Code of Practice for the Safe Loading and Unloading of Bulk Carriers, the BLU Code, adopted as resolution A.862(20) on 27 November 1997.
The full article will work through the checklist items, the agreed loading or unloading plan and its lodgement with the port State, the communication arrangements, and the conditions under which either side stops the operation.
It will also cover the hazard briefing owed to visiting stevedores on a cargo that off-gasses or self-heats, which is a real exposure rather than a formality: shore workers have died in spaces beside bulk cargo holds during discharge, and the ship holds information the terminal does not.