Water safety awareness in the high seas
By Maika Bolatiki
MV Lomaiviti Princess berth at Port Mua-i-Walu, Suva.
Goundar Shipping Services, in its concern for the safety of its passengers, has started onboard water safety awareness briefings.
This was confirmed to the Fiji Sun yesterday by its managing director George Goundar.
Speaking from Taveuni, Mr Goundar said they had started this onboard awareness programmes for the safety and wellbeing of passengers.
In this awareness programmes the crews provide a safety briefings to all passengers about safety equipment and emergency procedures – it’s the law. They are told about lifejackets and the right size to wear and also the size for children.
They are also reminded where the lifejackets and survival crafts were, and are briefed on what to do in the event of an emergency.
Mr Goundar said it was their duty to correctly educate the passengers on what to do when accidents happen. “They are to be prepared.”
The crew, he said, carried out live demonstrations of how to put on life jackets and where to find them.
“We found out during the awareness programme that about 90 per cent of our passengers did not know how to put on a life jacket,” Mr Goundar said.
“The passengers are also taught how to use fire extinguishers.” He said they were also reminded of the restricted areas in the boat.
Mr Goundar said this awareness programme was very effective and the passengers supported it.
He said the company’s priority was the safety of the passengers while travelling on their ship, the MV Lomaiviti Princess.
This programme, he said, would be ongoing for their vessel and crew members were also taking water safety courses.
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