Hong Kong Merchant Shipping informs about an incident where a sailor was found afloat at the portside of the nearby barge during a ship’s unmooring operation, and despite the medical treatment he received afterwards, he was declared dead.
The incident
A man overboard accident happened on board a Hong Kong registered general cargo vessel (the vessel) at the Inner Port of Macao when leaving for Hong Kong. Although the sailor (sailor 1), who fell into the sea, was rescued and received emergency medical treatment, he was declared dead later.
This Note draws the attention of shipowners, ship managers, ship operators, masters, officers, and crew to the lessons learnt from this accident.
A Hong Kong registered general cargo vessel berthed alongside a barge in the Inner Port, Macau for loading cargo containers. After completing the loading, the vessel commenced unmooring for departing from Macau to Hong Kong. When the crew members were loosening the stern mooring ropes and disconnecting the shore power cable, they heard a failure noise from the main engines. Sailor 1 and another sailor entered the engine room successively for inspecting the main engines.
Afterwards, sailor 1 left the engine room and reported the condition of the main engines to the master at the bridge. After reporting, sailor 1 left the bridge and might proceed to the starboard bow of the vessel for unmooring alone. When the vessel had just left the nearby barge proceeding to Hong Kong, sailor 1 was found afloat at the portside of the barge.
Although sailor 1 was rescued with assistance of the shore staff and received medical treatment at the scene, he was unfortunately declared dead later.
Probable cause
The investigation revealed that the contributory factors of the accident were the sailor 1 might have accidentally slipped and fell into the sea when he was unmooring the vessel alone at her starboard bow; and sailor 1 neither wore non-slip safety shoes nor life jacket when performing unmooring work at the time of the accident.
Lessons learned
In order to avoid the recurrence of similar accidents during operation in the future, it is recommended that:
- appropriate warning signs be prominently displayed on board to remind all personnel to take appropriate safety or protective measures when working on board, such as wearing suitable non-slip safety shoes, life jackets, safety helmets, and providing adequate illumination when working during the hours of darkness, etc.;
- the shipowner should conduct trainings or lectures at regular intervals for the crew members on operational safety.
