1174 - 09/19 - The importance of thorough inspections and maintenance regimes

The Club wishes to remind Members of the importance of inspections and maintenance regimes, following a Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) report detailing marine casualties due to corrosion fatigue on board.

Preliminary findings from the marine casualty resulting in a stevedore being fatally injured by falling into the cargo hold of a container ship, revealed that a safety railing was in poor condition and badly corroded, and may have contributed to the fall of the stevedore. Although the corroded safety railing had been identified as a task to be carried out on board, there were no safeguards or warning signs in place to warn personnel in the vicinity of its condition.

In a separate incident, a crew member on a container ship fell from a height of almost 20 metres when the base plate of the crane cabin he had just entered gave way. Preliminary findings revealed that the base plate was severely corroded. Although the company's planned maintenance system covered inspection of cranes, the corrosion of the base plate had not been detected .

For full information on these incidents, alongside recommended practices, please refer to the enclosed TSIB report.

Source of Information

Loss Prevention / TSIB