Τhe International Association of Dredging Companies (IADC) has published a report on the safety in mooring. The risks of mooring operations in the dredging industry cannot be overstated. Equipment, training and competence of personnel, and technology are the different factors that play a part in safe and efficient mooring work.
There are many examples when the activity of mooring went terribly wrong, often with severe consequences for those engaged in mooring operations and even for innocent bystanders. However, what makes a mooring operation such a high risk activity? Is it the equipment? Is it because of human factor risks? Is it because it is a team operation during which team members who
often do know each other well (vessel crew working and shore-based personnel) have to work together?
According to the Danish Maritime Authority and the Danish Shipowners’ Association’s guide “Mooring – Do it Safely”, the
following are the most common risks on mooring operations:
Equipment
- Use of old, damaged wire
- Poor equipment
- Poorly designed mooring system
- No overview of mooring area
- Hazard/tripping risk sites not highlighted
Work processes
- Lack of communication and planning
- Poor wire/line handling
Crew qualifications
- Lack of knowledge about the hazards of the job
- Unclear instructions
- Lack of information
- Lack of supervision (supervisor involved elsewhere)
- Small, untrained deck crew
- Ineffective on-board mooring training that does not identify and provide an understanding of the dangers associated with snap-back zones
Crew concentration
- Stress and fatigue
- Ship’s safety culture
- Procedures not followed
- Shortcuts taken
- Standing in the wrong places (in the snapback zone)
- Standing/walking on a bight
- Walking over a wire
- Quick mooring versus safe mooring
- No risk assessment process prior to mooringoperations
- Cluttered mooring area
- Cluttered deck
Weather
- Icy, slippery deck
Apart from the fact that the mooring equipment must be maintained and operated correctly to ensure safe and effective
use, a safe mooring operation depends on the human factor.
Human factor is a broad concept and can be considered as the “software” both literally and figuratively. Here it refers to personnel engaged in mooring operations and who can be easily injured when something goes wrong during the work, sometimes with fatal consequences. In mooring operations the “hardware” and “software” are interdependent and neither can be utilised on its own.
The concept of human factor in relation to the shipping industry is extensively discussed in the paper, “Safety in shipping: The human element” (Hetherington, Flin & Mearns, 2006).
To execute a mooring operation safely and efficiently, all involved personnel have to be trained and competent. While the competence of the mooring crew onshore cannot always be assessed or controlled, every effort must be taken that the vessel crew participating in mooring operations are trained and competent.
Conclusions
Regardless of various automation systems or the “hardware”, mooring a vessel with people will always be a necessity. And it looks that for the foreseeable future, personnel (both on the vessel and onshore) will be needed to conduct a mooring operation. Furthermore, in mooring operations, we need to manage the current risks, predict those of the future, and absolutely focus on the human element and carefully consider each individual’s tasks , the competencies needed to carry out tasks and how these will be developed and maintained. The best way of doing that is using the ancient old ritual of storytelling combined with the latest technological developments. Automation of mooring operations will also continue to developed. The future of these automated mooring systems is positive but at the moment they cannot (yet) handle all hull shapes.Furthermore, whether automated vessels are a possibility is yet to be seen.
Further information about mooring may be found in the report below
Source & Image credit: IADC
You stated that there are many examples when the activity of mooring went terribly wrong, often with severe consequences for those engaged in mooring operations and even for innocent bystanders. Do most marinas require people to provide their own mooring techniques? My brother has always wanted a boat and is trying to learn about moorage services. Getting some training on this could be very beneficial for the future.