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COAST GUARD ISSUES BENZENE FINAL RULE

Effective January 15, 1992, a final rule reduces the amount of benzene workers can be exposed to on vessels that carry the liquid in bulk. See Keynotes - Page 57 for details.

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Julie Mehta was a fourth class cadet at the Coast Guard Academy when
this article was written as a special chemistry project for LCDR J.J. Kichner.

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Boatbuilding Manual
Third Edition

A must for the bookshelf of any marine inspection office and an informative addition to any boatbuilder's library, the third edition of the Boatbuilding Manual by Robert M. Steward is a comprehensive text on vessel construction.

The first two editions were devoted primarily to the construction of traditional wooden vessels. However, the basic principles of construction outlined in the manual apply to more than wooden shipbuilding. The principles can be used in building tooling for fiberglass vessels, as well as the finishing of wood, fiberglass and composite vessels.

This newest edition (published in 1987) covers new techniques, materials and products, emphasizing wood and adhesives. This

information is very timely in light of the new trends in plywood and fiberglass composite construction.

With its down-to-earth descriptions of long established, common techniques and methods of building boats, this manual can be picked up and used to advantage by any amateur boatbuilder. The readability of the Boatbuilding Manual makes it a valuable tool for T-boat inspectors when examining hulls or seeking guidance on the structural integrity of a vessel.

In addition, the manual features excellent drawings of construction details. One whole chapter is devoted to fastenings, and another to frames and framing techniques.

Robert Steward is well qualified to write authoritatively on boatbuilding. He has 50 years of work experience in design offices and for East and West Coast builders. He was a designer and engineer for 24 years for the Huckins Yacht Corporation.

The Boatbuilding Manual can be purchased for $29.95 from the International Marine Publishing Company, Camden, Maine 04843.

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Continued from page 55

Chemical of the Month Compilation
Descriptions of Selected Hazardous
Materials Which May be Encountered
During Marine Transportation

This 200-page booklet contains descriptions of 79 hazardous chemicals from acetaldehyde to xylene. Included are formulas, uses, hazards, precautions, properties and identifiers.

The chemical of the month column has been a regular feature in the Proceedings of the Marine Safety Council for more than ten years. The purpose of the column is to provide readable information on hazardous materials with which merchant mariners and Coast Guard personnel are likely to come in contact.

The feature was initiated by the former Hazards Evaluation Branch of the Office of Merchant Marine Safety to carry out the Coast Guard mission to disseminate chemical safety information.

The first chemical of the month column in 1980 dealt with anhydrous ammonia. Prepared by Dr. Alan Schneider and Mr. Curtis Payne, the article was prompted by an accident involving anhydrous ammonia that took the life of a member of the Coast Guard the previous year.

In 1981, it was decided that the column should be a regular feature in Proceedings as many merchant mariners welcomed understandable descriptions of hazardous materials. Later on, the effort was undertaken by cadets and faculty at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, Connecticut.

Preparation of these columns has been monitored by CDR T.J. Haas, CDR J.J. Kichner and LCDR T.J. Chuba. All data in this publication has been reviewed and updated.

Published in August 1991, the Compilation of the Chemical of the Month may be obtained for $35.00 (paper copy) and $17.000 (microfiche) by addressing:

PB91-236257

National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, Virginia 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4028

The Boater's Medical Companion

Robert S. Gould, M.D., has prepared an excellent guide to handling medical emergencies at sea. Having The Boater's Medical Companion aboard can make any boater more confident in coping with a medical emergency afloat.

Special sections on using the radio and dealing with a medical evacuation could be very helpful to an inexperienced crew member faced with a disabled captain.

Designed for those who don't plan to go on bluewater cruises, but who need to know how to deal with emergencies on board -- and to decide whether a problem is a real emergency -- this guide is clear and explicit.

A physician for 25 years and a sailor/ explorer for 20 years, Dr. Gould spices his data with anecdotes from his own adventures.

Published in 1990, The Boater's Medical Companion can be obtained for $6.95 from Cornell Maritime Press, P.O. Box 456, Centreville, Maryland 21617.

The Boater's Weather Guide

Sooner or later everyone who ventures out on the water will encounter strong winds and confused seas, fog, thunderstorms or heavy rain. How dangerous any of these situations will be depends not only on the type of boat, but also on the experience and knowledge of those aboard. The weatherwise mariner has planned how to cope with bad weather, and has learned how to read the signs in the sky and on the water.

Published in 1991, The Boater's Weather Guide by Ms. Margaret Williams, a free-lance writer of technical boating subjects, acquaints boaters with the forces that shape weather and allows them to predict changes that can be expected.

Part I contains a logical explanation of climate and weather, concentrating on wind speed and direction, low visibility, thunderstorms, gales and hurricanes, the elements that affect the mariner the most.

The second part deals with the effects of climate and weather on the boater without delving into the whys and wherefores -- a practical approach for those who want only the necessary facts.

The Boater's Weather Guide can be purchased for $7.95 from Cornell Maritime Press, P.O. Box 456, Centreville, Maryland 21617.

Keynotes

January - February, 1992

Final rule

CGD 91-039, Closure of vessel documentation office, Honolulu (46 CFR part 67) (October 15).

After a review of its field organization for vessel documentation, the Coast Guard is closing the documentation office at Marine Safety Office (MSO) Honolulu, Hawaii, and will transfer the duties of that office to the one at MSO Puget Sound in Seattle, Washington. Closure of the Honolulu office is necessary because an evaluation of the workload in the Pacific area indicates that the Coast Guard can serve the public more quickly and efficiently by combining the workload and staff of the Seattle and Honolulu offices. This final rule publishes that closure, which will allow the Coast Guard to serve the public more effectively. It also reflects the realignment of Coast Guard districts four years ago.

Effective date: January 1, 1992.

Addresses: The executive secretary, Marine Safety Council (G-LRA-2, 3406) (CGD 91-039), Coast Guard headquarters, 2100 Second Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20593-0001, maintains the public docket for this rulemaking. This docket will be available for inspection or copying at room 3406 at the above address between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Telephone: (202) 267-1477.

For further information, contact: Mr. Thomas L. Willis, chief, Vessel Documentation and Tonnage Survey Branch, Office of Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection. Telephone: (202) 267-1492.

Temporary rule notice

CGD 91-051, Safety and security zones (33 CFR parts 100 and 165) (October 17).

The published list gives notice of temporary safety zones, security zones and special local regulations for limited periods of time in limited

areas. Safety zones are established around areas where there has been a marine casualty or when a vessel carrying a particularly hazardous cargo is transiting a restricted or congested area. Special local regulations are issued to assure the safety of participants and spectators of regattas and other marine events.

Dates: The list includes safety and security zones, and special local regulations established between July 1, 1991, and September 30, 1991, and have since been terminated. Also included are several zones established earlier, but inadvertently omitted from the past published list.

Addresses: The complete text of any temporary regulations may be examined at, and is available on request, from the executive secretary, Marine Safety Council (G-LRA-2), Coast Guard headquarters.

For further information, contact: Mr. Don Harris, regulatory paralegal, Marine Safety Council at (202) 267-1477 between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Final rule

CGD 88-040, Benzene (46 CFR parts 30, 151, 153 and 197) RIN 2115-AD08 (October 17).

The Coast Guard is amending its regulations by revising the special carriage requirements for benzene and benzene mixtures, and by adding new regulations concerning occupational exposure to benzene vapor on vessels.

Exposure to benzene vapors can cause leukemia or other serious blood disorders. The rule reduces permissible exposure limits and provides the same level of protection for workers exposed to benzene vapor in the marine workplace as factory workers have under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's regulations.

The rule's requirements are performanceoriented and can be met by changes in work practices, and the use of respirators, and other Continued on page 58

Continued from page 57

protective clothing and equipment. The rule also requires the training of workers and testing of employees to determine benzene exposures.

Because benzene generally produces warning signs in the body before the onset of cancer, the rule provides for medical examinations of workers. Those workers with benzenecaused medical problems are forbidden from working in a benzene environment. Deadlines have been established for compliance with each of the safety requirements.

It should be noted here that the final rule inadvertently changed the entries in Table 151.05 and Table 1 of part 153 in Title 46 from 10 percent to .5 percent benzene. The intent of the rulemaking was not to change the carriage requirements for those products with a benzene content of .5 percent to 10 percent, but to have a way to refer the reader to the safety and health requirements of 46 CFR part 197. A correction rule is in clearance to change these entries back to the proper 10 percent benzene and to add footnotes to the two tables to link 46 CFR part 197 for products with benzene contents between .5 percent and 10 percent.

Effective date: January 15, 1992.

For further information, contact: Dr. Alan L. Schneider, Hazardous Materials Branch, Office of Marine Safety, Security and Environmental Protection. Telephone: (202) 267-1217.

Request for comments

CGD 91-054, Review of boating safety regulations (33 CFR parts 95, 100, 173, 174, 175, 177, 179, 181 and 183: 46 CFR part 25) (November 1).

The Coast Guard will conduct a comprehensive review of currently effective boating safety regulations at the May 1992 meeting of the National Boating Safety Advisory Council (NBSAC). The purpose of the review is to determine if any of the Coast Guard boating safety regulations are in need of change or revision. This notice describes the existing regulations that will be reviewed and solicits comments from the boating public in response to specific questions related to the review.

The Coast Guard will provide a summary of the comments received to the NBSAC members for their consideration before the May meeting, and will consider all relevant comments in forming changes to the regulations.

Date: Comments were requested by December 31, 1991.

Addresses: Comments may be mailed to the executive secretary, Marine Safety Council (GLRA-2/room 3406), Coast Guard headquarters or delivered to room 3406 between 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Telephone: (202) 267-1477.

The executive secretary maintains the public docket for this regulatory review project. Comments will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at room 3406, Coast Guard headquarters.

For further information, contact: Mr. Carlton
Perry, regulatory coordinator, Auxiliary, Boat-
ing and Consumer Affairs Division.
Telephone: (202) 267-0979.

Advance rule notice

CGD 91-045, Structural and operational measures to reduce oil spills from existing tank vessels without double hulls (33 CFR part 157: 46 CFR parts 31, 32, 35) RIN 2115-AE01 (November 1).

The Coast Guard is soliciting comments on which structural and operational measures should be required for existing tank vessels without double hulls to provide as substantial protection to the environment as is economically and technologically feasible. Regulations requiring structural and operational measures which meet this standard of protection are mandated by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90).

The purpose of such regulations is to reduce the likelihood as well as the impact from oil spills during the statutory phaseout period established by the separate requirement of OPA 90 that all tank vessels be equipped with double hulls, at the latest, by the year 2015. The Coast Guard is soliciting comments also on whether existing tank vessels should be required to install double hulls sooner than set out in OPA 90.

Date: Comments were requested by December 31, 1991.

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