Assessing the topicality of the problem related to the explosion of crankcases in marine main propulsion engines (1972–2018)

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a query aimed at assessing the validity of the topic of crankcase explosions prevention in the main marine engines. The study takes into account the engine type, engine manufacturer, ship’s age, accident severity, ship’s location at the time of the incident, and the share of fatal accidents in the analyzed population of crankcase explosions. One of the primary hazards associated with offshore and deep-sea ship operations – and primarily ship power plants – are fires and explosions that result in accidents and incidents with an average frequency of 60 days. This paper discusses the actuality of crankcase explosion hazards in the main propulsion engines of various types of sea vessels. The assessment was made based on the results of a statistical analysis of historical data from 1972 to 2018. The methodology consisted of three stages: (1) a selection query to obtain the source data, (2) analysis of the obtained results (data separation, extraction of additional information, and statistical analysis), (3) synthesis of the obtained information, and drawing conclusions about the numerical indicators describing the statistical distribution of individual events for the given evaluation criteria. The analysis showed that the risk of crankcase explosions affects ships of all ages – both in crosshead (31%) and trunk piston engines (61%) – and that the number of serious incidents (67%) remained constant over the investigated period. Half of all incidents occurred on vessels younger than 15 years old. 58% of explosions took place in engines of the most popular prime movers manufacturers. The probability that a main engine crankcase explosion will result in injury or death is 17.34%.