UK MAIB Safety Digest
The UK MAIB issued this year Safety Digest including lessons learnt from maritime accidents. One case draws the attention on what poor planning can cause as follows:
While at anchor just outside port limits, themaster of a support vessel decided to use theFRC as a platform from which to ‘touch up’ asmall area of scratched paintwork on the vessel’sport quarter. The weather and sea conditionsappeared to be favourable; the wind speedwas 10 knots and the swell was about 0.5m.As it was only a small paint job and would nottake long, it could easily be combined witha planned boat drill. What could possibly gowrong?
The FRC’s coxswain prepared the paint, rollersand a pilot ladder on the main deck and riggedlines to hold the FRC in position. Shortlyafterwards, the chief officer briefed the coxswainand his crewman on the launch and recoveryoperations. Although the painting of the hullwas mentioned in the brief, no details orhazards associated with this additional taskwere covered.
The FRC was lowered without incident.Following several minutes of manoeuvring,the coxswain drove the FRC under the supplyvessel’s cutaway on her port quarter (figure).The FRC was then secured using the pre-positioned lines fore and aft. However, thecoxswain and his crewman had difficultysecuring the lines on the FRC’s bitts and,because the supply vessel had swung abouther anchor due to a change in the tidal stream,the FRC was being buffeted against the portquarter by the swell. The coxswain had to pushthe FRC away from the vessel’s hull severaltimes and he complained to his crewman thatthey ought not to be there.
Although the vessel’s master and chief officerwere watching from the main deck, they couldnot see the FRC under the cutaway. The mastersensed that the coxswain was having difficultiesand asked him if it was safe to carry on.The coxswain replied that it was.
Moments later, the coxswain cried out in painas he became trapped between the FRC’s liftingframe and the supply vessel’s hull. He soon fellto the deck. The chief officer quickly climbeddown the ladder into the FRC and drove itunder the port davit. The FRC was then hoistedback on deck. The coxswain was in pain butwas conscious, and told his crew mates thathe thought that he had cracked a rib. Afterlooking at the International Medical Guide forShips, the second officer gave the coxswainmedication to ease the pain.
Meanwhile, the master notified the ship’sagent of the accident, who in turn arrangedfor a nearby fishing vessel to take the coxswainashore. The coxswain eventually reached ahospital about 2 hours after the accident, buthe was declared dead shortly after his arrival.
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Lessons Learnt 1. Unusual tasks present unusual hazards,and risk assessment is an invaluable toolto ensure that any activity is completedas safely as possible. A little job mightlook easy, but unless all of the factors areproperly considered it is easy to be caughtout by the unexpected. 2. Tides, tidal streams and the weather areconstantly changing. Therefore, whenundertaking a task that is affected by theseelements, think ahead. Changes in weatherand sea conditions, and the consequencesof such changes, are usually predictable. 3. Human nature and professional pride oftenlead to seafarers taking risks to completetasks in borderline conditions. Don’t betempted: if in doubt bale out – at leastyou will live to regret it! 4. A ship’s medical officer is not a doctor,and the full extent of a person’s injuries isnot always apparent. As a general rule ofthumb, where there is doubt it is alwaysbetter to seek proper medical advice andimmediate evacuation to hospital via thecoastguard. In most cases, this will at leastensure that an injured person is diagnosedand treated as quickly as possible. |
