Placing a mooring line over the bitts requires very good situational awareness of the vessel’s movement, the position of the mooring line, and the crewmember. The risk of hand entrapment is a well-known hazard, and it can be normalised during routine operations.
Once the eye of the mooring line is through the workboat’s fairlead, a sufficient length of the mooring line should be available on the workboat so that the eye can be placed over the bitts without the crew’s hand making contact with it. This would prevent any sudden snatching of the line, which could trap the crew’s fingers if they were holding the eye of the mooring line.
For heavier lines, a short, stout rope can be fastened to the mooring’s eye so that it can be hauled over the bitts without any hand contact with the mooring eye.
Vigilance from another crew member, usually the coxswain, to provide a safety cross-check should ensure that hands are always clear of the eye when securing the eye to the bits on the work boat. However, the design of a workboat does not always provide a clear line of sight to the working deck.
Hazards encountered during routine work can be normalised and create greater danger for the crew. Additional safeguards are required, including alerting, training, and changing working practices to keep hands away from the eye of the moorings.