Safety Alert: Inappropriate use of lift trucks as work at height platform

 

Two examples are included in this report of fall from height injuries that occurred on separate vessels

 

In each case personnel were being lifted by forklift truck – in a metal ‘basket’ and ‘wooden box’ respectively – to undertake work at height. Neither arrangement was suitable or fit for purpose.

 

“Personnel other than the driver should not be carried on a truck unless it is constructed or adapted for the purpose. Riding on the forks of a fork-lift truck is particularly dangerous.” – MCA (2015). Code of Safe Practices for Merchant Seafarers. (Amendment 6, October 2021)

 

In the principal incident, a risk assessment had been undertaken for the work equipment, a high-pressure washer. Use of a ladder had been rejected for safety when using the pressure washer. This suggests a possibly incomplete understanding of risk assessment and management as a means of controlling the safety of the whole work activity. Members may find it useful to consider if their own training effectively address both procedure and also the broader underpinning of risk management such as assessing all potential risks and recognising that well intentioned safety measures can have unintended effects on other aspects of safety.

The importance of learning from previous incidents is also underlined in the report as both accidents occurred on vessels managed by the same company.

 

FOR THE FULL REPORT CLICK HERE

 

ICHCA International is committed to helping industry to learn lessons fast, learn them once and make sure that they stay learnt. This information is intended to provide all organisations in the cargo supply chain with the opportunity to consider the events and to review and adapt their own health and safety control measures to proactively prevent future incidents.

We are grateful to Transport Malta for providing details and for raising awareness. We acknowledge their commitment to sharing learning to benefit others. If you have similar operations, please share this information with managers, operatives and any potentially affected third parties as appropriate. Please also review any of your relevant operations for similar hazardous conditions, risks, and controls. Learning content like this is highly valuable as it is based on real-world experience. We encourage everyone with publishable information about incidents to send it to us, so that we can raise awareness across the whole industry. Please contact us at secretariat@ichca.com; sharing your insight could save a life or prevent injury.