The Shanghai branch office of the China Maritime Safety Administration (CMSA) recently issued a warning notice that outlines a number of safety management requirements for confined space operations on ships.
The warning was published less than two weeks after an accidental death occurred on a product tanker owned by local company Nanjing Shenghang Shipping.
At around 17:30 local time on January 31, 2026, two crewmen fell unconscious while they were cleaning up oil sludge and other residue in one of the cargo tanks of the locally-registered Shengyou 233. One individual was pronounced deceased shortly afterwards while the second was evacuated to hospital.
The ship was about 50 nautical miles northeast of the Yangtze River Estuary at the time.
The CMSA said the incident exposed problems such as weak safety awareness of crewmembers, illegal entry into dangerous confined spaces on ships, and inadequate implementation of safety responsibilities by shipping companies.
In response to the various dangers reflected in the incident, the CMSA has outlined three core requirements for shipping companies.
First, to strictly implement the main responsibility for safe production, shipping companies must carry out self-inspection and self-correction of dangerous confined space operations on ships. They must also strengthen safety training and warning education for all employees, enhance shore-based monitoring and ship visit inspections, and improve any existing safety management system.
Companies must strictly abide by confined space operation regulations, implement relevant guidelines and work guideline requirements, and formulate operation and emergency rescue plans and complete the approval at the ship-shore level.
They must also enhance their capabilities in confined space gas detection and be equipped with adequate protective equipment and ventilation facilities while ensuring rescue personnel will be available on standby as soon as an incident has been identified.
Lastly, companies must strengthen shore-based support, improve crew safety skills, carry out pre-job and on-the-job practical training for crew on the core capabilities required in confined space operations, and ensure that crewmembers are proficient in the inspection and use of safety equipment.
Companies also need to carry out regular operational drills, clarify operational prohibitions and procedures, and further develop crew professional quality and emergency response capabilities through ship inspections and simulation drills.
The CMSA expects that the publication of the warning notice will remind shipping companies of the need to ensure proper safety management, comprehensively investigate potential safety hazards in confined space operations, and improve the safety awareness and operational skills of their employees.
