Fall from Height Leading to Injury

During work to change a wire on an FRC davit, a crewman lost his footing, slipped and fell 2.5m to deck below.  At the end of the operation, the bosun proceeded to a place where he could monitor the stowage of the FRC.  The area of deck near to where the FRC bow was stowed was uneven and sloped to allow for FRC stowage.  He slipped and fell to the deck below.  Due to the specific design of the vessel, there was no barrier or guard to prevent a fall when the FRC was not in the stowed position.

The bosun sustained damage to his ankle which was placed in a cast.  He missed landing on several obstructions which had the potential to cause life-changing injuries had he landed on them.  This incident was considered high potential by our member.

• A job safety analysis (JSA) and permit to work (PTW) was performed for the job, but the hazard of falling was not identified in either.
• The incident happened during parking of FRC in what would be the clean-up phase for the wire-change job.
• The incident was not an isolated consequence uniquely generated from changing the wire on the davit but would be recurring for each launch/retrieval of FRC.
• Work on wire changing may have exposed the bosun’s safety shoes to oily residues that potentially contributed to slipping while in hazardous area on C-deck.
• The area on C-deck was not clearly marked as hazardous or no-go and the area where bosun was standing is not used during retrieval stage.
• The design of the area and the way the FRC was positioned when stowed meant the area could not be fenced off. The stowed FRC fully closes off the dangerous area, effectively mitigating the risk of falling from height.

Contributing causes identified were that there was no non-slip  coating, and an uneven surface, in a hazardous area. This had not been identified.