Safety Alert: Incidents Involving the Storage and Handling of Steel Plates (not as cargo)

The Republic of the Marshall Islands, Maritime Administrator has renewed Marine Safety Advisory No. 06-24. Which considers the findings of 11 investigations of incidents where steel plates were being manually handled and fell on seafarers. These incidents have resulted in fatalities and serious life threatening injuries.

Although focused on shipboard incidents, there are also potentially transferable lessons to other workplace environments where larger, heavy items may be used for work purposes. Potentially contributing factors such as procedures designed for manual handling rather than lifting equipment, tasks seen as ‘routine’ with no pre-task assessment required and storage solutions that may not be well designed for the role are identified in the Advisory.

Summary of points: Republic of the Marshall Islands, Maritime Administrator – Marine Safety Advisory No. 06-24

The recommendations include preference for horizontal rather than vertical storage, storage having a designed securing mechanism, the provision of lifting equipment, the need for risk assessment and the importance of tool-box talks and encouraging effective stop-work-for-safety principles in the workplace.

Link to the advisory: https://www.register-iri.com/wp-content/uploads/MSA-2024-06.pdf