No system is perfect and risk is everywhere, probably nowhere more so than in shipping, with no guarantees that there will never be an accident, nor that a particular accident will never repeat itself.
Fatal Accident During Inspection of Chain Locker
April 26, 2013 by Leave a Comment
During routine inspection of the chain locker with chain on board a stern trawler, one member of an inspection team fainted during the inspection and died shortly after. A second member fainted during the rescue operation, but recovered. This incident onboard a 700 GRT stern Trawler in 1998.
Company Pleads Guilty to Breaches of the ISM Code
March 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
On the 19 June 2012, a Port State Control Inspector from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) boarded a Panama registered vessel at Portland. During his inspection the Inspector noted that access was being made into the vessel’s ballast tanks without proper procedures being in place. The Master was issued with a Prohibition Notice requiring entries be made in the correct manner in accordance with the Code of Safe Working Practices.
Fatal Fall of Shore Worker in Cargo Tank – Investigation Report
November 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
At 2258 on 19 February 2010, a German shore worker was fatally injured on board the oil/chemical tanker Bro Arthur. Bro Arthur had part-discharged at Rotterdam before arriving in Hamburg to offload her remaining crude palm oil cargo. A team of three cargo “sweepers” had been arranged under the operational direction of a supercargo (person who has wide experience in cargo operations, and normally acts on behalf of the charterer). While exiting No 2 cargo tank on completion of the “sweeping” operation, one of the “sweepers” fell to the bottom of the tank.
Fatal Fall Into Ballast Tank – Investigation Report
November 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment
On 28 January 2009, the chief officer on board the UK registered container ship Ville de Mars fell almost 8 m when descending into a water ballast tank (the vessel’s forward ballast tank). The vessel was on passage in the Gulf of Oman. He was removed from the tank by the ship’s crew and died while being flown to a hospital ashore in Oman by a Royal Navy helicopter. The chief officer had been due to leave the vessel the following day in Jebel Ali, UAE. No postmortem was conducted.
Officer of the Watch 