Rethinking Fire Safety

This resonates across Europe, where workboats, harbour craft and offshore wind service vessels face similar risks during hot work, temporary power use and operations in confined spaces. Morgan Davis, business development manager at Ramtech North America, stresses that operators must move beyond labour-intensive fire watch, adopting smarter approaches to maintain visibility and control before sparks turn into full-blown engine-room incidents – lessons that resonate across Europe’s workboat and offshore wind sector.

At the time of the Bonhomme Richard fire, manual fire watch remained a cornerstone of marine fire prevention. Human monitors were tasked with observing hot work areas and raising the alarm if smoke appeared. This relies on people being in the right place, at the right time, fully alert. Fatigue, shift changes and poor communication all create risk.

This challenge is equally acute during maintenance, retrofit and port operations for European workboats, harbour craft and offshore wind service vessels. Designed for service lives of 20 years or more, these vessels undergo structural alterations and system retrofits over time, which can reduce access to enclosed cavities and make inspection and monitoring more complex.

Over the past decade, engine room fires on crew transfer vessels, which transport personnel to offshore installations, such as the Windcat 3 in 2010 and the Windcat 8 in 2017, have required rapid intervention, often involving fixed CO₂ systems and coordinated crew responses.

In some cases, smoke and confined spaces made access difficult, underscoring the need for early detection, resilient monitoring and robust safety procedures. These incidents demonstrate just how critical early detection is – a gap that wireless monitoring is designed to fill.

As detection windows narrow and operational complexity increases, the case for more resilient monitoring becomes stronger. Tight schedules, ageing vessels and complex retrofits not only elevate fire risk but also increase insurance exposure and potential downtime, making rapid detection and effective mitigation critical for both safety and business continuity.

It is also important to recognise that ships contain numerous voids, unmanned spaces where debris can accumulate over years of service. These concealed areas present a significant hazard, particularly during hot works such as cutting through bulkheads, where sparks and heat can ignite hidden combustible materials and allow fire to spread undetected.

Hot work remains one of the primary ignition sources during maintenance. Temporary generators, welding operations and confined spaces amplify the danger, particularly where fuel systems, engine rooms and auxiliary machinery are located close together. In some vessels, small diesel engines may even be positioned above boilers, creating additional risk if leaks or residual fuel are present. In such environments, even minor fuel leaks can escalate rapidly if not detected early.

Manual fire watches are resource intensive and costly, and they leave room for human error. Operators are increasingly turning to smarter, adaptable monitoring solutions that provide continuous oversight across concealed spaces and can adjust to changing conditions during complex maintenance operations.

There are also practical limitations with wired setups. Installation can be slow and inflexible, while cables are vulnerable to vibration, accidental damage or environmental interference, potentially leaving critical areas unmonitored during high-risk periods.

In addition, wired systems can compromise the integrity of fire zone boundaries. Where cables pass through bulkheads and decks, fire zone boundaries may not be fully secured, increasing the risk of fire or flooding spreading through the vessel.

Across both the U.S. and Europe, the cost and labour demands of continuous manual fire watch efforts make wireless detection increasingly attractive. Over extended refits, investing in flexible monitoring strategies can reduce risk, downtime and insurance exposure. Such approaches can often be redeployed across multiple projects, offering long-term operational value. For operators, the goal is not just regulatory compliance but demonstrable risk reduction. Smarter monitoring provides coverage across concealed spaces, supports evolving regulations and strengthens crew response without over-reliance on human vigilance.

Investment in modern detection and monitoring technologies enables round-the-clock oversight, whereas post-hot works stand down periods with personnel typically range from 30 minutes to three hours, creating potential gaps in oversight once human supervision is withdrawn. The maritime sector has reached a point where dependence on manual processes is no longer proportionate to the risk. Integrating adaptable detection and awareness strategies allows operators to maintain safe, resilient fleets in demanding conditions without compromising operational efficiency.

In an era of high fleet utilisation, tight margins, shrinking skills pools and growing regulatory scrutiny, operators must embrace smarter fire safety approaches or risk costly incidents, lost availability, and reputational damage. For Europe’s workboats and offshore fleets, staying ahead of fire risk is no longer optional – it’s a matter of operational survival.