A Painful Trip - A Painful Trip
Initial Report
Report Text:
An experienced member of the crew of a fishing vessel in port was boarding his vessel. He was standing on the gunwale of the boat, and jumped down onto the deck rather than stepping down. As he did so he landed wrongly and twisted his knee.
Lessons Learned: Staff should not jump from the gunwale of the boat; they should step down.
(Editor’s note: In all the reports, the “lessons learned” are those described by the reporter. CHIRP may add to these in its comments.)
CHIRP Comment:
In this incident that occurred whilst boarding a vessel, the injury to the seafarer was fortunately not long-lasting. In another case that occurred in 2008, a seafarer lost a leg when he was trapped between the pontoon and the vessel he was boarding. So careful attention is needed to risks whilst boarding, and more generally to mitigating slip, trip and fall hazards. This wide subject was well summarised in May 2008 in the excellent “Alert” bulletin – the international maritime human element bulletin published by the Nautical Institute.