LTI finger injury during mooring operations

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 4 April 2023
  • Generated on 29 April 2025
  • IMCA SF 09/23
  • 2 minute read

An AB got his left index finger trapped between a bitt and a mooring rope, resulting in a broken finger and 45 days off work.

What happened?

The incident occurred during un-mooring at the end of a ship-to-ship refuelling operation. 

An AB got his left index finger trapped between a bitt and a mooring rope,  resulting in a broken finger and 45 days off work

What went wrong?

  • There was no assessment of the PPE worn by the crew on this job; the impact gloves worn by the AB were in poor condition.

  • There was a soft eye at the end of the mooring rope, but no small rope extension was used to remove the soft eye from the bitt.

  • The crew on the other vessel did not allow sufficient slack on the mooring rope.

  • There was no management oversight or monitoring of inexperienced or “short service” personnel.

Lessons learned

  • Ensure short service personnel (persons who are not yet experienced on any given worksite or vessel) are appropriately supervised.

  • Our Member started to use small rope extensions on the soft eyes so as to avoid exposing fingers and hands to risk.

  • Ensure that sufficient slack is allowed when handling mooring ropes.

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