UK P&I Club recently published a guide concerning the controls and the key points that the UK Club’s Risk Assessors look for when inspecting a vessel. Specifically, the guide allows ship operators to carry out a similar check on the Threats and Controls, ensuring that the ship has a good risk profile.
The Club has analysed the number and value of the Club’s claims to prioritize high risk areas and determine what the threats are that cause these cargo claims.
Although 60% of UK Club claims are caused by ‘human error’, human error is often only ‘the straw that breaks the camel’s back’ – the last event in a chain of causal events. These causal events can normally be traced back to failures in one or more areas of ship operation, we sometimes refer to them as ‘accidents waiting to happen’.
…UK Club noted.
According to the UK Club, the main threats are:
- Physical damage to cargo
- Loss overboard
- Collapsed stow
- Carriage temperature
- Wet damage
- Theft/Shortage/Tally error
- Pre-loading/discharge planning
- Contamination from other cargo
- Fire and explosion damage
- Stability error
How can we reduce the frequency of these ‘accidents waiting to happen’?
How effective do you think the Controls are on your ship – are there any accidents just waiting to happen?
What ‘controls’ should we be looking at to ensure the ‘threat’ is contained and an ‘incident’ does not occur?
You may find specific information concerning cargo claims in the following report
