Safety Alert: When routine vehicle deck operations become risk

When routine becomes risk: vehicle deck safety

Vehicle deck operations are among the most familiar activities in the Ro-Ro and ferry environment. Trailers are routinely marshalled, reversed, parked, secured and released across ports and terminals around the world.

But familiarity can sometimes mask risk.

TT Club has highlighted a recent Lessons Learnt animation, developed through its collaborative work with UK P&I Club, which reconstructs a fatal crush incident during a trailer manoeuvre on a Ro-Ro vessel.

In the incident, a banksman moved into a narrow gap between a reversing trailer and the ship’s structure. The trailer continued to move, creating a fatal pinch point with no escape route.

The incident demonstrates how quickly a routine operation can become a high-consequence event when visibility, communication, supervision and segregation fail.

Importantly, the lessons extend beyond the ship itself. Vehicle decks are shared operational spaces where ship, port, terminal and stevedoring activities intersect. Managing the risks therefore requires all parties to understand their responsibilities and the risks created at these operational interfaces.

Several practical controls deserve particular attention:

• Physical segregation should be used wherever practicable; painted lines do not stop moving vehicles.
• Line-of-sight rules should be clear and absolute: if the driver loses sight of the banksman, movement should stop.
• High-risk areas, including tight corners, restricted gaps and areas adjacent to ship structures, should be identified before work begins.
• Supervision should provide oversight of the overall operation, rather than becoming absorbed solely in the task.
• Everyone should have the authority to stop the job when conditions become unsafe.

For ports, terminals and stevedoring operations, the message is particularly relevant: a task being familiar does not make it low risk.

The TT Club animation provides a valuable opportunity to consider whether the risks highlighted in this incident could arise in our own port or terminal — and whether our procedures, supervision and safety culture are strong enough to prevent them.

The material and animation are provided by TT Club, in collaboration with UK P&I Club.

Read the full TT Club article and watch the animation