Fire on Board the Liberian Passenger Ship Ecstasy, Miami, Florida ...

Factual Information 36 Marine Accident Report5. Should circumstances permit, post casualty testing for drugs must also becarried out immediately after any safety or pollution accident or incident. Thepost casualty testing must be carried out on the Master and Chief Engineer andthose other Officers and crewmembers who were performing any duty at thetime of the incident or casualty.About 0030, July 21, 1998, while the Ecstasy was under tow from the sea buoy tothe Port of Miami, the Coast Guard notified Carnival Cruise Lines to conduct postaccidenttoxicological screening for drugs and alcohol. About 0430, or about 12 hours after the firewas detected aboard ship, technicians from Toxicology Testing Service, Inc., of Miamibegan taking blood specimens for alcohol testing and collecting urine specimens for drugscreening. By 1100, the technicians had tested 79 crewmembers, including the officers andfitters discussed earlier in this report.The first officer who was on bridge watch at the time of the fire and a juniorelectrician who was not on watch tested positive for cannabinoids. They weresubsequently dismissed by Carnival. An oiler who was on watch in the engine room testedpositive for alcohol. He stated, however, that he had consumed alcohol after the fireemergency had subsided.According to Carnival Cruise Lines’ officials, the company had not beenconducting random drug tests of its shipboard crews before the Ecstasy fire. Followingthis accident, the company revised its hiring policies to require drug testing as a conditionfor employment. The company instituted a program of random drug testing and adopted a“zero tolerance” policy, meaning it will dismiss any employee who tests positive forillegal drugs.WreckageOperating SystemsPropulsion system. Investigators noted that electrical cables in the ventilationexhaust plenum near the mooring deck were burned and melted. Some of these cablessupplied voltage from an electrical distribution panel in an equipment room near the aftmooring station to the high-speed breakers for the port and starboard propulsion systems.Following this accident, Carnival Corporation modified the voltage supplyarrangement to the high-speed breakers aboard the Ecstasy by providing selectableredundant voltage supplies to each set of high-speed breakers from independent powersources. According to Carnival officials, the company also planned to modify thearrangement aboard other vessels in the Fantasy class.Steering gear systems. During the accident, the port steering system completelyfailed, but the starboard hydraulic system continued to operate even though the monitoringsystem failed. The port and starboard steering gear rooms were on deck No. 3, directly