New mass casualty recovery cradle
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- Published on Monday, 23 February 2015 06:20
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20 Feb 2015
The new MCR cradle from Fibrelight Developments
If several people end up in the water after an accident at sea, it can take many stressful hours to recover them.
However a new mass casualty recovery cradle (MCR cradle) to be launched in the spring from Fibrelight Developments aims to not only make it quicker but also easier to recover casualties.
The development of the cradle began after Seawork 2014 explained business development manager Ben Shepherd in response to new Solas and IMO regulations.
“The new cradles are particularly suitable for offshore support vessels and passenger ferries,” he explained. “We are always bringing out new developments and this cradle is the latest, designed in line with the new requirements for all ships to rescue several casualties from the water at any one time.”
Trials and further product development has been carried out in conjunction with an Aberdeen based offshore shipping company on the new 7m by 10m cradle.
“The first prototype was manufactured in the autumn and since then we’ve been developing and tweaking the design,” explained Mr Shepherd. “It’s a bit like a trawler net which is fixed to the side of a vessel which can scoop up to three or four people at any one time rolling them inboard.
“Depending on the spread and the vessel operator it will be able to recover between ten and 20 casualties an hour.”
And he explained that the cradle can be retrofitted and has been designed so it can be packed out of the way until it’s needed. Once deployed, it won’t move around if there is a sea running.
“It’s fixed to the vessel at one side and one end is held by a derrick arm which will be extended out from the vessel.
“The vessel can be bought alongside the casualties and they can be scooped up.”
The new regulations apply to new ships constructed on or after July 1 2014 and to all existing ships by the first periodical or renewal safety equipment survey after July 1 2014.
By Katina Read