As UK MAIB reports in its most recent Safety Digest, a container vessel was slowly approaching a Mediterranean port in the early hours of a winter morning.
The deck crew were preparing the ship’s mooring lines for berthing when, during an attempt to pass a heaving line around a structural pillar next to a fairlead, a crew member lost balance and fell overboard through an unguarded opening.
The second officer in charge of the operation promptly notified the captain on the bridge, and the ship’s engine was immediately stopped. The crew member in the water was unable to reach the lifebuoys that were thrown by the ship’s crew. A line was thrown from the ship’s deck and the crew member, who was floating aft, grabbed hold of it and secured it around their waist.
The ship’s crew used the line to haul the crew member back on board. Following medical assessments on the ship and ashore the crew member was declared to be uninjured and in good health, showing no signs of hypothermia and none the worse for their ordeal. The company’s subsequent accident investigation identified the hazard of the unguarded opening and took swift remedial action to fabricate and install a railing and support to mitigate the risk. The company also issued a fleetwide safety bulletin to highlight the accident, and required each vessel to undertake an immediate mooring area hazard assessment to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Lessons learned
- Hazard → The unguarded opening in way of the mooring line fairlead seemed an obvious hazard after the accident and with the benefit of hindsight. However, it had remained unidentified throughout the ship’s design phase, in the course of day-to-day operations, and during surveys and audits. Any work conducted near a vessel’s side should include an assessment of the hazard of falling overboard before starting the task.
- Action → The action of swinging a heaving line to pass it around the structural pillar had been performed many times without incident, but on this occasion the momentum of swinging the line caused the crew member to overbalance and fall. The company took immediate action to guard the opening and, importantly, to notify its entire fleet of the danger posed by unguarded openings. Promulgation of incidents can impel crew to evaluate their own operations, review and identify hazards in their own areas of responsibility and help prevent future accidents.
- Risk → Dynamic risk assessments are an invaluable tool to quickly identify, analyse and control workplace hazards as they arise. These ‘on-the-spot’ assessments are vital to prevent a developing hazardous situation becoming more serious during real-time activities. Make sure you understand what a dynamic risk assessment is and how to conduct one. It could save your life.
