Safety Alert: Mooring operative struck by mooring line

 

 

What happened:

During mooring operations of a cruise vessel, the pilot advised that the vessel would begin to tension one of the lines, and for mooring teams to stand clear. A change in wind pushed the vessel off berth, causing the mooring line to take up all available slack.

The mooring line became fouled on fixed equipment on the quayside and the tension increased further, resulting in the line pulling clear from behind the equipment and springing back several feet.

The energised line struck a mooring operative, catapulting them forwards and downward onto the quayside, causing them to sustain very serious injuries to both their upper limbs.

Key findings:
• The mooring contractor is approved and deemed competent, and the fixed equipment had been in-situ on quayside for approximately 30 years.
• The instruction to stand clear was acknowledged, but the injured party had considered themselves to be in a safe position.
• The path of the mooring line had been run between two stanchions of the fixed equipment, and due to the tension increasing on the line it became energised up against and suddenly cleared the stanchion.

Considerations for members:

Members may wish to consider the following actions:
• Identify potential for jamming, snagging and fouling hazards on quayside, and remove where possible. Ensure mooring teams are aware of hazards.
• Review risk assessments to ensure that fouling hazards are identified and use dynamic risk assessments for each operation.
• Communicate risk assessment outcomes to mooring teams, pilot, vessel master, and crew.
• Ensure mooring operatives undertake training to be aware of the hazards associated with tensioned mooring lines and always stand clear.
• Ensure supervision is ‘hands off’ and able to maintain an overview of the mooring operation in order maintain effective communication with all parties.
The information forming the basis of this alert has been provided confidentially and some details have been anonymised. PSS thanks the contributor for submitting details of this incident to be shared.

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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 the Port Skills & Safety 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.

For previous Safety Alerts follow the link: https://ichca.com/safety-alerts