Tag: ladders

Lloyd's Register(LR) has published a video to showcase the safety checks that should be carried out before using a pilot ladder to ensure a safe boat transfer. 

This year's IMPA Safety Campaign on pilot ladders highlights that still a lot of work is required as the requirements of SOLAS regulation V/23 (Pilot transfer arrangements), its associated IMO Assembly resolutions, and the ISO 799 series standards are considered as the minimum requirement and not an aspirational target, IMPA stressed.

USCG has issued Safety Alert to address the importance of verifying the correct arrangement of handholds in embarkation gate arrangements aboard merchant vessels.

AMSA published a marine notice reminding shipowners, operators, masters, crews, recognised organisations, marine pilots and pilotage providers of the obligation to provide safe pilot transfer arrangements.

Whenever a pilot or other person embarks or disembarks from a ship by ladder, they entrust their safety to the pilot transfer arrangements provided by the ship and the pilot boat crew. AMSA has noted with concern that since November 2017 several pilots’ lives have been placed at risk, in six separate incidents where man ropes have parted, or its securing point has failed.

United States Coast Guard (USCG) issued a marine safety alert on the importance of verifying the correct arrangements of handhold stanchions at the embarkation gate.

CHIRP Maritime has published its latest 'Feedback Maritime' Magazine in the context of providing lessons learned and raising awareness of safety issues. Among others, CHIRP highlights an accommodation ladder failure whilst the ladder was being recovered after a pilot had boarded and discusses important issues related to maintenance, design, and human factors.

SOLAS Chapter V, Regulation 23 sets out the principal requirements for the rigging of pilot ladders. These provisions are also set out in the IMO/IMPA Required Boarding Arrangements for Pilot poster, featured ICS/IMPA Shipping Industry Guidance on Pilot Transfer Arrangements.

The safety of pilot boarding and disembarkation is a major headache for the shipping industry. Every year, many pilots are injured or died due to old (worn-out) or improperly rigged pilot ladder facilities, and/or the process of placing the pilot ladder results in injuries to the crew, notes Capt.Zhaoqingwei, Marine Safety Manager at DASIN SHIPPING PTE LTD.

ICS along with the International Maritime Pilots’ Association (IMPA) published the guide "Shipping Industry Guidance on Pilot Transfer Arrangements", updating maritime pilot transfer safety procedures amid industry concerns about poorly rigged ladders causing severe injuries or fatalities.