Unsafe container removal results in crew fatality

by The Editorial Team

May 26, 2015

in Safety

Those involved in risky operations must ensure everyone stays alert

The UK MAIB has issued itsSafety Digest including lessons learnt from maritime accidents. One case refers to a fatal accident during container removal.

Containers were being discharged from inside the main vehicle deck of a ro-ro cargo ship. A crewman and a fork-lift truck driver were working together to move the containers from their storage positions onto trailers for transfer ashore. The crewman’s job was twofold: to remove the twistlocks from the underside of containers before they were loaded onto trailers and also to remove twistlocks left behind on the deck to prevent them obstructing vehicles’ tyres.

RelatedNews

SMA’s green horizons: Charting a course for decarbonization

DNV: New guidance on achieving stable lifting operations

Having lifted a 40 foot container from the top of another, the fork-lift driver moved his vehicle backwards and lowered the container. This improved the vehicle’s stability but severely limited his visibility ahead. At the same time, the crewman moved forward to remove an underslung twistlock from the suspended container.

Expecting the vehicle to continue its movement away from him, the crewman then turned round, facing away from the vehicle, and started removing redundant twistlocks from the deck. However, the fork-lift truck driver, who could not see the crewman, started to steer his vehicle to avoid the potential snagging hazard from other stacked containers. This manoeuvre caused the end of the suspended container nearest the crewman to change direction and collide with a static container, fatally crushing him in between.

Lessons learnt

The movement, storage, securing or removal or vehicles, or in this case containers, from inside a ro-ro ship’s internal deck requires great care and proper supervision by a suitably trained person.
The crewman should not have moved towards the suspended container without a recognised safety signal. Equally, where the operator of lifting equipment cannot see the full path of the load, then a dedicated, safety signaller should guide the operation.
Industry guidance states that 40 foot containers should not be handled using fork-lift trucks as, unlike 20 foot units, they are not fitted with ‘pockets’ to accommodate the vehicle’s forks.
Watch out for complacency, which creeps in when crew are routinely exposed to danger without consequence. Those involved in operations where risks have been identified must ensure that everyone involved stays alert and continuously assesses the hazards and the effectiveness of safety measures.

Source:UK MAIB