Boating Safety Tips -Galley Safety

If ever there was a dangerous workplace, it is the typical boat and yacht galley.  Confined and moving, cooking should always concentrate on safety first.  There are some major risk factors to consider that must be controlled or mitigated.  There can be times at sea when even boiling water can be a challenge let alone meal preparation, and other options then require consideration.  Check out the rough weather food ideas for some of these options. Usually, I am planning the next meal when the first adverse weather broadcast indicates less than ideal sea state conditions.

Boating Safety Tips - Galley Safety

Fire is the major enemy afloat for all boats and is the worst event at sea apart from sinking that one can experience.  Like homes, a great many fires start in the galley.  Be prepared with the proper safety equipment and more importantly know how and when to use them. Most fires are caused by hot oil igniting and deep frying is the most common cause, in particular French fries and fried chicken preparation or simply unattended frypans:

• Fire Extinguishers.  Always have a fire extinguisher mounted on the adjacent bulkhead or where it can be reached quickly.  Think about doing a basic fire course on how to use fire extinguishers, it may save your life and your boat and even more importantly your home and family as well. Do you have the right fire extinguishers on board? Another important issue is ensuring fire extinguishers have not expired.  Maritime insurance companies have rejected a billion dollars in claims in the last decade based on latent or compliance deficiencies unrelated to the actual claim and some cases are now before the US Supreme Court, in particular rejecting a major claim because a fire extinguisher certificate had expired. 
• USCG Fire Extinguisher Update.  A new USCG regulation came into effect in 2022.  The new regulation, which can be located in the Federal Register at CFR 33 Part175 subpart E, is applicable to recreational boats less than 65ft LOA.  The first important change is that no fire extinguisher can be older than 12 years.  Check the date stamp on your extinguisher, and if over 12 years or close, or there is no date stamp then you should replace them.  The second change is that all boats from the year 2018 are required to carry fire extinguishers that labeled as 5-B, 10-B or 20-B. Fire extinguishers that are labeled with B-I or B-II designations are not acceptable. Boats predating 2018 are allowed to carry extinguishers labeled B-1 and or B-11, but conditional on being serviceable and not date-stamped greater than 12 years in age.

Galley Fire Blankets.  Have a fire blanket mounted on the adjacent bulkhead.  Read the instructions before you need to use it.  Make sure it is installed close to the cooker not at the bottom of a locker. It doesn’t take long for someone to suffer second degree burns. Always use the fire blanket before resorting to a fire extinguisher. A fire blanket is made from non-combustible materials and suffocates a fire.  So, if you have an oil fire on the cooker, act quickly as it can get out of control quickly:

• Turn the burner off immediately.
• Fire blankets are contained within a pocket, pull the tabs to remove it.
• Hold the blanket in front of you and protect your hands by rolling the blanket over your hands. Do a practice run before you set off as part of your fire drills.
• Place the blanket over the pot or pan fire gently, stay calm, and ensure your hands and face are not facing the flame directly. Do not simply throw the blanket over the pan.
• Lay the fire blanket over the flames from the closest edge of the flame to prevent fire running up the far side of the fire blanket and onto your hands.
• If you forgot to turn off cooker then make sure you do it now.
• Leave the blanket on the pot or pan and monitor so that the fire has been suffocated and allow the heat to dissipate.  This can be anything from 15 mins to an hour, don’t remove the blanket and risk reignition.

Fire Blankets and People.  If the oil spills over a person and the clothing is ignited you can still use a fire blanket. Rapid action can save life and reduce serious injury. 

• Wrap the fire blanket around the person and take care to protect your hands by again rolling the fire blanket over them.
• Roll the blanket around the person until the fire is covered.
• Take control and instruct the burning person to STOP! DROP and ROLL!  What this means is that you want the person you just wrapped in the blanket to drop to the floor, and roll around until the flames are extinguished.  You need to be assertive as the burning person will be panic stricken and scared.

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Boating Safety Tips - Hot Liquid Safety

Spilling hot liquids are a real danger and a common cause of burns and scald.  If someone gets a serious scald or burn you are going to need urgent medical assistance.  Does your medical kit have the required dressings for first aid until you get medical assistance? Do you know what to do if a scald or burn event occurs?

• Galley Clothing. Mitigate the risks by wearing appropriate clothing. Always wear an oilskin or insulated cooking aprons when cooking at sea. Wear some gloves in bad conditions or other protective items. I know people who wear their foul weather bib and braces pants when cooking in a seaway. I also see many in shorts and that is all, just open to disaster.
• Galley Procedures. Plan your cooking and food prep tasks, do a quick risk assessment on the proposed galley activity. What are the challenges of preparing a meal and using the cooker? Look at how to do any task safely. What are the ergonomic challenges?
• The Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible. All you need to know about sustems.

Scald and Burn Treatment

Boating safety tips also cover burns. The most common causes of galley burns and scalds on board result from hot boiling water, coffee and tea spills.  One common risk area is when handling hot coffee and tea when climbing companionway steps or trying to carry hot beverages in a moving boat and passing up these to the cockpit.  Consider always using insulated mugs with lids as a mitigation measure, something we do all the time when on board (experience talking here). 

Accidental contact with hot water or steam from kettles and pots is another cause, as is contact with hot objects on the cooker, such as steaming pots and pans and removal of hot baking trays in the oven.  Use oven mitts when handling hot objects.

The barbecue on the stern is a risk area with hot charcoal and the barbecue itself being a cause for burns. 

Burns First Aid.  Always make sure you read your first aid book regularly, so you know how to administer help quickly.  There are first aid phone apps as well so look at downloading one of these.  Make sure your first aid kit has suitable burns treatment options for those you experience and so not require professional medical help.

• A first-degree burn is a superficial burn, and it affects the top or outer layer of the skin.  It is characterized by blistered, red and painful skin. 
• A second-degree burn is a partial thickness burn which results in damage to the first and second skin layer. It may have a mottled red and white, dark red or pale-yellow appearance.  These burns are painful and will often have blisters. 
• A third degree burn or full thickness burn penetrates to the fat layer underneath the skin. The appearance may be brown, black or white, and will have a dry and leathery feel to it.  These burns can destroy nerves and not have much associated pain. You need to get the patient immediately to the ER for treatment.

Boating Safety Tips - Gas Safety

With a significant number of boats having Propane/LPG gas, safety is of paramount importance.  Although explosions are thankfully rare, and this may be due to the inordinate fear of gas that ensures safety.  I have seen first-hand what gas can do, while working on an offshore oil drilling rig that suffered a massive explosion from leaking gas, with sad loss of life and massive destruction.  It only takes a small quantity of gas in the bilge of a boat to literally blow it apart so please follow these important boating safety tips. 

Gas Detectors. First and foremost is to install a reliable gas detector, with gas cylinder solenoid shut-off valve.  It should be left on all the time, not when you are about to cook:

• Gas Alarms. Treat any alarm as a problem, not as a false alarm.  Ventilate the boat to be on the safe side before cooking and satisfy yourself that no gas is around.
• Gas Sensors. Gas sensors have a tendency to degrade so ensure you have a spare to replace it with, preferably every couple of years.  If the sensor head has been wet with sea-water then replace it as well.
• Gas Isolation. Always turn off the gas at the bottle as well as the local isolation valve.
• Bottle Regulators. Verify that your gas bottle regulator is suitable for marine use. Many are for hosuehold BBQ use and many will have a label that specifies not suitable for use in boats or an RV or caravan. 

Boating Safety Tips - Carbon Monoxide Gas Safety

Carbon Monoxide is an insidious killer, and it is colorless, odorless and tasteless.  Escaping gases from a faulty engine or generator exhaust or galley stove can kill you all.  Propane water heaters are potentially lethal as is your LPG cooker and oven and banned in most places for that reason.  Carbon Monoxide poisoning in the USA kills between 300 and 500 people a year and 50,000 seek hospital emergency room assistance and is the leading cause of poisoning deaths.  In the UK it is around 120 deaths a year.  There have been several yacht deaths from generators and heaters so these boating safety tips can save your lives.

Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, dull headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, confusion, agitation and a raft of other signs you are being poisoned.  If you experience these while an engine or generator is running or you have a space heater, hot water heater, gas stove or an indoor BBQ charcoal grill running then stop them immediately.  If you do experience the occasional symptoms, stop and do some serious troubleshooting and try and identify the cause.

There are various flammable and toxic gas detector types on the market.  The theory is that all flammable gases have a Lower Explosion Limit (LEL).  As long as the gas to air ratio remains within this range, no explosion can occur.  Once this level is exceeded, a significant explosion risk exists.  A detector must indicate the presence of gas concentrations before the limit is exceeded, typically 50% of LEL.  Better units have a sensitivity of 25% LEL.   Gas detectors are generally categorized by the type of gas they are designed to detect, either combustible gas or toxic gas.  Further categorization are the detector technology types.  Catalytic sensors are generally used to detect combustible gases.  Electrochemical and metal oxide semiconductor technologies are used for the detection of toxic gases.  The in-depth theory is described in my book The Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible 4th Edition. The single sensor units are able detect flammable gases that include bottled LPG or propane gas, and the toxic carbon monoxide.  If you do not have a Carbon Monoxide gas detector installed on your boat then after you read this go and buy one and install it! These important boating safety tips should be read and followed.

Boating Safety Tips - Fire Detection Systems

Boating Safety Tips include fire detection. Smaller boats and yachts should invest in self-contained units that have an integral battery, you can buy them quite cheaply at large hardware outlet chains.  The various smoke types are different with respect to the smoke particle sizes.  Hot fires tend to have very small and almost invisible particles; low temperature smoldering fires will have larger visible particles.  Ion chamber detectors react quickly to small particles, but are slower on larger particles, and the reverse for photoelectric detectors. There are detectors that combine photo electric and ionization within the same unit. The in-depth theory is described in The Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible 4th Edition.

Treat galley safety as a priority on board, it is all part of enjoying your food so think about these important boating safety tips