Another case of the latest UK MAIB Safety Digest highlights lessons learned regarding an incident in which a crewman lost his balance during the disconnection of a lashing rod and fell overboard.
The incident:
A 5,000gt container ship was inbound under river pilotage to a discharge port. It was dark with light winds and a calm sea. A deck cargo of containers had been secured using lashing rods of varying lengths.
Four crewmen had been assigned to start removing the lashing rods prior to the ship’s arrival alongside. While disconnecting a lashing rod located in the vicinity of the ship’s side, one crewman lost his balance and fell overboard.
A lifebuoy with a light was immediately thrown into the water, and a search involving a number of assets was initiated. However, the crewman was not found and remains missing
Lessons Learned
1. The crewman’s fall overboard was a direct consequence of him disconnecting a lashing rod in the vicinity of the ship’s side. The lashing rod was 5 metres in length and weighed 21kg. The crewman had disconnected the lashing rod without assistance. He had then lost his balance, causing him to drop the lashing rod into the water before falling overboard himself. Precautions against falling should have included the assistance of another crewman in disconnecting the lashing rod, the wearing of a safety harness and lanyard, and appropriate supervision. Furthermore, in view of the risk of him falling into the water, the crewman should have worn a personal flotation device. Implementation of such measures could have been expected had a proper risk assessment been conducted for the task.
2. For reasons of efficiency, it had become a normal and accepted routine for the deck cargo’s inner lashing rods to be disconnected prior to the ship’s arrival in port. However, this extension to the normal working practice did not feature in the ship’s safety management system, and had not been risk-assessed. Although viewed as a small change to an already changed procedure, the decision to disconnect the outer lashing rods prior to the ship arriving alongside created a revised ‘normality’ for which there were inadequate safeguards. Any change in procedure should prompt a review of its associated risk assessment to ensure that any previously identified risk control measures remain valid.
Source & Image credit: UK MAIB
