Kemikalier i maskinrummet - Maskinbefälselevens kunskap om kemikaliehantering

Abstract

The curriculum of the four-year marine engineer programme states that the student should have 300 days of on-board education. The student’s assignments can vary and include contact with chemical hazards. To ensure that the student does not endanger his or her own health when in contact with different kinds of chemicals, he or she must be aware of the risks. According to Swedish legislation there must be systematic work towards improving the work environent at every Swedish workplace that deals with chemicals, and it includes that the employee’s work environment shall be constantly improved and the employee made aware of these risks. Whether the students know about the health risks of some chemicals and their rights to proper protective gear is unclear. In the curriculum there is a mandatory course that involves the student to learn about the systematic work environment management. The background of this report is based on our interships at sea where we have experienced a lack of routines and knowledge regarding chemical management. The aim of the report is to find out whether our classmates experience the same flaws in the curriculum of the marine engineer programme. A web-based survey is used to investigate our target group. The study has clarified that the marine engineer students have good overall knowledge of short- and long-term health risks of the different chemicals that have been brought to their attention. Even after these results were made clear, the majority of the students were of the notion that they have subpar knowledge of on-board chemical management after having gone through the four-year marine engineer programme at Chalmers. Little over half of the students have worked with systematic work environment management on board the ships, and almost all of the students have received education within this field. The report is written in Swedish.