Man Overboard & Pilot ladders
A video shared by a contact on LinkedIn brought home how frequent these dangerous situations might exist on Container vessels with this means of access to the pilots.
In a Safety alert released by the United States Coast Guard, a recent case of a container vessel in Port of New York is highlighted. As the Bosun and OS set out to open the hydraulically operated bi-fold hatch door, they were unable to monitor the seas from their position behind the closed door.
As the door was being opened, seas struck the shipside and violently forced it open, and flooding the space.
In the process, the OS was swept out to sea, the Bosun suffered injuries including a fractured leg. The force of the seas was such that the shell door itself suffered structural damages.
The OS was never recovered.
As the Alert mentioned:
This casualty reiterates the dangers of personnel exchanges at sea, especially in heavy weather conditions. Even though the side shell hatch door was located on the port side and was being brought onto the vessel’s lee, the crew’s inability to observe and assess the sea conditions combined with the ship’s roll and sea state presented significant risks.
Often duty officers on the bridge of big vessels have a tendency of understimating the state of the sea and especially when the access is on the sides of the vessel like in these container vessels, the duty officers may need to be extra cautious when instructing crew to prepare for pilot boarding.
On the subject of pilot ladders, I really must recommend readers to have a look at the CHIRP Maritime annual digest of reports for 2018.
Section 4 (page 35) deals with Pilot boarding and pilotage and is really informative not only in highlighting the best practices to follow on board our vessels, but also to highlight the common mistakes that ships make when setting up the ladders and during the pilot interface.
?About : Anuj joined Thomas Miller in 2012 . A master mariner with extensive sailing and command experience on oil tankers and other vessels, Anuj has also worked as a superintendent in a technical management company. He is handling the loss prevention and risk management aspects of the Members and provides technical support to the Singapore team.
Maritime Expert Group, Inc.
5 年A common ground swell condition at the San Francisco pilot station.? Either the pilot (or pilot boat) has not given the correct course to quell the rolling or the Master has decided to not comply.? A dozen things wrong in this scene,? but welcome to a pilot's world where Risk Management means your life.? In the end, a very-very dangerous job.
Graduate Engineer Ship Management, Master Mariner, Captain, Consultant, Author
5 年The good old seamanship seems to be for some Captains a book with seven seals and shows the limited qualification. Who don't understand that the well known old fashioned "make lee" is in order to establish safe conditions for pilot boarding areas and to avoid a flooding of the boarding area is irresponsible and in the wrong position aboard. It is standard safety procedure that the crew has to wear SAFETY BELT and SELF INFLATABLE WORKING LIVE VEST for such tasks. And it is well seamanship to make lee to warrant a safe boarding without high swell. When I read such reports I asking me: Who made such person to Captain who is not able to fulfil miminmum standards, to take notice of his responsibility for to him entrusted crews? How will safety trainings and instructions conducted and the ISM/SMS in this company enforced?