As UK MAIB reports in its most recent Safety Digest, a large cruise ship was alongside in port and a team of specialist contractors were in the engine room, working on a large compressor.
Part of this work involved replacing the compressor’s mounts, which required the use of chain blocks and other lifting equipment to lift the 1,865kg compressor. This was further complicated by the compressor having an offset centre of mass. The contractors were working alone without support from the vessel’s technical crew. The compressor was raised using two pieces of steel bar passed through the forklift guide arrangements at its base and then supported with three chain blocks. With the compressor suspended, one of the contractors lay on the deck to reach and disconnect the mounts beneath it.
Meanwhile, the cruise ship began its scheduled departure in rippled sea conditions with the wind gusting to 30kts. Shortly after leaving its berth the vessel rolled slightly and the compressor tilted from its suspended position, crushing the contractor.
The other contractors quickly used the chain blocks to raise the compressor sufficiently for the contractor trapped beneath it to roll free with help. The alarm was raised by a crew member who had been designated as fire watch for earlier hot work, and medical assistance soon arrived. The injured contractor was extracted from the engine room, stabilised in the ship’s medical centre and subsequently airlifted to hospital. The contractor’s injuries included multiple rib fractures to both sides of their chest, a puncture to the chest wall into the pleural space and a fractured collarbone.Post-incident examination of the lifting arrangements found that only one of two 980kg working load limit deckhead fixed rings had been used, along with lifting attachment points to a cable tray and a pipe bracket. Additionally, the chain blocks used for lifting theaft end of the compressor were hooked on to the chains of other chain blocks. The steel bars did not have any spreader arrangements and the wide forklift truck ‘lifting slots’ allowed movement of the bars.
Credit: UK MAIB
Lessons learned
- Risk → Once the ship had departed the berth and was subject to the elements and manoeuvring forces the inherent instability of the lifting arrangements became obvious, resulting in the load shifting and falling onto the contractor. Working beneath suspended loads should be a last resort and additional precautions should be taken to prevent the load falling. In this case, the risk of vessel/compressor movement and the potential consequences were not considered.
- Procedure → A lifting operation is defined as the lifting or lowering of a load and The Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment) Regulations applied. The regulations require an appropriate risk assessment to be conducted; lifting equipment to be of adequate strength and stability; and lifting operations to be properly planned by a competent person under appropriate supervision and carried out in a safe manner. In this case, these requirements were not applied in various ways and nearly resulted in a fatality. Make sure you are familiar with the regulatory requirements and any relevant codes of practice or guidance before undertaking any lifting operations that pose a risk to health and safety.
- Plan → Besides using only one of the two certificated deckhead fixed rings, cable trays, pipe brackets and connecting to other chain block chains are wholly unsuitable strong points from which to lift a load. Given the complicated lifting arrangement, and the weight of the compressor, this lift should have been subject to the development of a thorough lifting plan that included input from the vessel’s senior officers and shore-based technical staff. This would likely have identified the correct lifting method and equipment, as well as appropriate timing for the lift in respect to the vessel’s departure from port and the environmental conditions. Working in isolation, including as part of a team, can incur serious consequences.