UK MAIB Safety Digest draws the attention to lessons learned from poor risk awareness demonstrated onboard.One case refers to a group outing for three mothers and their four children that nearly ended in tragedy when one of the children fell overboard from a river ferry after standing on a seat next to the ship’s side rails.
The ferry had docked and one of the children, a 3-year old girl, was standing on an upper deck seat to get a better view. Whilst her mother was distracted by the other children, the girl climbed further up the slatted seat back and balanced on her stomach on the top handrail to look over the side at the quay.Suddenly, she over-balanced and fell overboard, cartwheeling down into the river between the ferry and the quayside. Luckily, the tide was at slack water, and the quick thinking and bravery of one of the crew on board, who jumped into the river to rescue the child, prevented this accident from becoming a tragedy.
Ships’ side rails are installed to protect individuals and reduce their chance of accidentally falling overboard. On this particular vessel the side rails were 1100mm high, which was higher than the mandated minimum. However, seating was arranged next to the side rails, which meant that if someone stood on the seating, the effective height of the rail from the seat to the top was reduced to approximately 635mm. This then introduced a hazard, which had been recognised by the management through its PA safety announcements which were made before each crossing of the river. These asked passengers .. not to stand on the seats… There were also safety signs posted on the seats stating ‘No Standing on Seats’.
The warnings provided by the safety announcement and on the safety notice attached to the seats proved to be insufficient to prevent the passengers from standing on them occasionally.
Lessons Learned
1. Passengers – both adults and children – enjoying a river cruise are often keen to get a good view, and therefore will want
to look out from the vessel rather than face inboard. It is therefore not at all surprising that young children will want to stand or kneel on seating. By rearranging it such that it is away from the ship’s side, this ferry operating company has significantly reduced the risk of a child falling overboard. All passenger vessel operators should review and risk assess the positioning of passenger seating.
2. It is important that passengers listen and adhere to safety instructions; they are there to prevent accidents. It is particularly important that parents remain vigilant as children do not always appreciate the dangers on board ships and boats.
3. Ships’ crews must remain vigilant and be prepared to issue clear instructions to passengers who may be behaving in a manner that could place themselves at risk.
Source & Image credits: UK MAIB
