The UK Marine & Accident Branch (MAIB) has published a compendium of 25 cases it has investigated over the past months, with details of the incidents and their outcomes.
An extract from Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, Andrew Moll’s introduction is as follows:
“I will start my opening comments by thanking Kathryn Neilson, Derek Cardno MNM and Paul Glatzel for the introductions they have written for the main sections of this edition of the MAIB’s Safety Digest. Their individual perspectives provide some insightful comments and, as ever, some useful pearls of wisdom.
Only a year ago, I wrote in my introduction about safe means of access, and that the MAIB had just started two investigations into fatal accidents. One accident occurred as a crewman was attempting to leave his vessel to receive mooring lines, and the other as a crewman was trying to board having just let go the lines. Unfortunately, we have just commenced yet another fatal accident investigation, this time involving a workboat landing a crewman ashore. In common with the previous accidents, the workboat was not effectively secured against movement when the crewman stepped off. They say that bad things come in 3s, and I hope this is the last time someone dies because either the mooring/unmooring operation has not been properly thought through, or a shortcut has been taken.
The investigation report into this latest accident will be published later in the year, but in the meantime may I again encourage you to review your procedures for berthing/unberthing and the passing and letting go of mooring lines to ensure your operation is not putting anyone’s life at risk.
If I had a £1 for every time a manager has asked me how they can ensure that their staff are ‘doing the right thing’ I would be a rich man by now. There are no simple answers: if there were, people would not be asking me the question. However, the rapport that the ‘office’ has with the ‘coal face’ has a lot to do with developing a good safety culture. Office-based personnel, no matter how experienced, will not always draft workable procedures. Consequently, it is up to those trying to get the job done to provide them with constructive feedback. Back in the office, the task is then to take on board the feedback and react positively to it. Saving a few minutes here or a few pounds there can seem pretty smart at the time, but it is unlikely to convince the next-of-kin. Plan > Do > Review; it works.
When you have finished reading this edition of the MAIB’s Safety Digest, please pass the link on to to someone you feel will genuinely benefit from reading these articles. There is no limit to the number of people who can learn from the experiences of others.
Read the MAIB Digest in full here: 2020-SD1-MAIBSafetyDigest
