A recent IMCA Safety Flash focuses on an incident in which a crew member stepped out of the bathroom onto the cabin mat, when the mat slipped resulting in the crew member falling backwards, striking his lower back on the base of the bathroom door frame, to provide lessons learned.
The medic checked the injured person, identifying some swelling and a small abrasion. In follow up with the medic, the injured person reported feeling a little sore, but with no further symptoms, and returned to normal working duties.
Investigation identified that the cabin mat did not have any anti-slip material on the underside. A check was completed on all cabins which found a number of mats which had the potential to slip due to no anti-slip or rubber material underneath. The assumption had been made that every cabin had an anti-slip type mat.
IMCA’s member noted that this incident could have resulted in a far more serious injury.
What went wrong/what was the cause
Cloth based mats were being used instead of rubberised (anti-slip) mats. There were not sufficient rubberised mats to supply each cabin. Cloth based cabin mats do not offer any anti-slip properties.
What went right
- The accident was promptly reported to the medic by the injured person.
- Most of the cabins were to found to have the correct anti-slip type mats fitted.
Learnings
- The immediate corrective action was to apply deck grip tape, until suitable anti-slip mats were available.
- An adequate stock of rubberised matting should be maintained onboard.
- If there’s a temporary need to use cloth based mats, some form of anti-slip material should be used to prevent the mats from slipping.
- Inspections of accommodation areas should highlight where anti-slip mats are not present or not available.
