Marine Safety Forum issued a case where a seafarer hospitalized to remove foreign object from eye after insufficient assessment of safety eyewear requirement.
The incident
An Able-Bodied Seaman (AB) was carrying out a routine maintenance which changed to include paint chipping. A few hours after the job was completed, he reported a pain in his eye to the Master.
Subsequent examination indicated that he had a small piece of debris in his left eye. Medical assistance was attempted onboard to flush the object out, but this was unsuccessful. The seafarer had to visit hospital to remove the object from his eye. He then returned to the vessel with no further treatment required.
Findings
- The seafarer was wearing Safety Glasses that had been provided by the company and were relevant to the routine maintenance task, however the change of task to chipping would have required a change of safety eyewear to googles.
- Despite the circumstances of the job changing the job was not stopped nor appropriate risk assessment reviewed.
- The job was insufficiently planned and the risk assessment in use was generic without adequately addressing all hazards and controls.
Lessons learned
- Arrange a “Time Out for Safety” at the next available opportunity to discuss this alert.
- Review all onboard Risk Assessments to ensure that the correct eyewear is mentioned as per the Company PPE matrix.
- Vessel owner will focus on eye safety as a Safety Theme.
- Following a review of the PPE matrix by the DPA and feedback from crew on the eyewear the company provides, the Vessel owner commenced trialling Spoggles as safety eye wear. Spoggles as safety eyewear meet the requirement of safety glasses and safety googles.
