Mooring operation is one of the most dangerous operations on board, you should pay extra attention!

Mooring operation is one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs on board.

When the ship arrives at the port, the crew will first perform mooring operations. During the operation, due to improper operation or negligence, the cable is usually broken, the cable rebounds, the cable is twitched, and mud and rust on the anchor chain splash, etc., causing casualties.

· Recent typical cases

Case 1: At about 17:16 on January 2, 2017, the ship "Dong XX" owned by Tianjin XX Shipping Co., Ltd. was berthing at the 902 berth of Qinhuangdao Port Jiu Company. During the cable-laying process, the cable-laying worker took the first bow cable on the starboard side and walked towards the bow to get other cables. The first bow cable he had taken suddenly broke, resulting in the death of a cable-laying worker.

Case 2: At 15:40 on May 8, 2018, a crew member of the "Lian XX" ship anchored at the No. 3 anchorage of Qinzhou Port was accidentally hit by a cable during the cable replacement operation, resulting in a broken right calf bone. The injured crew member was in a coma for a time and in critical condition. After 4 hours of rescue, the injured crew member safely went ashore for further treatment. Fortunately, there was no danger of life.

Case 3: At about 0705 on March 30, 2021, the general cargo ship "Tong XX" owned by Shanghai Tong XX Co., Ltd. was berthing with the dredger "Tong XXX". The steel wire rope lute head tied to the mooring pile on the right side of the bow was loosened due to the force. When the cable was pulled back, it hit a crew member with the cable, causing the crew member to fall into the water and die.

Places that are prone to casualties during ship mooring operations are called death traps.

Analysis of the cause of the accident

Neglect of maintenance reduces the strength of ship cables.

During the use of cables, friction with the ship's side and mooring piles is inevitable. Friction causes broken wires in marine cables, and the cables are exposed to the outdoors for a long time and age, which significantly reduces their strength. During maintenance, the crew can only visually feel whether the mooring cable is aging and needs to be updated, and cannot timely discover potential safety hazards and update the cables in time, causing the cables to break when the force is too large in an instant, resulting in accidents.

Improper operation, the cables exceed the allowable strength.

During the cable operation, some ships did not scientifically operate the ships to put each cable in a suitable force position, resulting in uneven force on multiple marine cables, so that the external force was borne by some marine cables and exceeded their allowable strength, which was particularly prone to breakage accidents and posed a great safety hazard.

Ignoring local weather and sea conditions

Some ships failed to grasp the geographical location and meteorological environment of the port berths in time, and moored at berths with large tidal ranges. With the changes of the tide, the mooring will be sometimes tight and sometimes loose, especially at low tide, the cable is in a loose state, which is more likely to cause uneven force on the mooring. If it is not adjusted in time, it is easy to break the cable under the action of external forces.

Crew members have weak safety awareness.

Because tying and untying operations are normal work, the crew members involved are very likely to be careless and stand in a dangerous position of the cable rebound without considering the danger at the time. There is a lack of communication between the crew members, and the wrong operations in the crew operations are not corrected or stopped in time, resulting in tragedies.

5. Lack of necessary safety training

Most of the crew members in the above cases lack the necessary training on the types and characteristics of cables, cable-tying steps, preparations, safety precautions, etc., especially the trainee crew members are not clear about the precautions and protective measures before cable-tying operations, resulting in cable breakage and injury accidents.

Bounce Zone

The highest number of injuries and deaths during ship mooring operations is due to cable separation or cable hitting back at crew members standing in the cable area. The area passed by the broken rope is enough to "kill" a person. This is called the bounce zone.

The bounce zone is minimal when the rope is straight, but it increases if the rope is turned in the bollard or drum. Previously, for the safety of seafarers working in this area, rebound zone markings were provided. Although convenient and simple, the markings do not reflect the actual complexity, which may give seafarers a false sense of security that they will be safe as long as they do not stand in the highlighted area. The latest version of the Code of Safe Operating Procedures for Merchant Seafarers (COSWP) has revised the guidance on rebound zones, prohibiting the marking of areas on the deck, and recommending that the entire mooring deck be considered as a potential rebound zone and that clearly visible signs must be displayed to warn the crew.

The ship must be towed by a tugboat or ship winch in order to moor close to the pier. This requires taut and strong ropes and wires to pull the ship. Each rope and wire has its own endurance limit, exceeding which it will break and disconnect. If the wire rope is aged or not properly maintained, the durability limit will be reduced.

When the rope is under tension due to the pulling force, the rope will break or separate, and when these separated ropes swing in the rebound area and "whip" people, it may form a fatal blow.

Rope snare

When the mooring line runs, it often forms a coil or ring, which is called a rope snare. If the person involved in the mooring operation is under this loop, the pulling force may drag him to the ship or hit him on the hard deck above the machinery.

How to avoid "quilt snare" accidents? The crew must know where they are standing and must not stand in the "snap" of the rope, because the smallest mistake can lead to life-threatening.

The ship's supervisor must not participate in the operation as a staff member, he must ensure that he supervises the safe mooring operation and executes the captain's orders. It is absolutely unnecessary to involve him in handling the rope unless in a critical situation, because this will not only not help, but will further increase the risk.

Inexperienced crew members can only operate the rope under supervision. If they need to operate after being on board for a period of time, they should strictly follow the degree of supervision. It is common for people not involved in the operation to access the mooring operation area. Therefore, a restricted access notice should be issued to ensure the safety of people and operations.

It is also important to remember that all necessary ropes should be ready before starting the operation. The winch should be checked in advance for smooth operation and any spooling must be secured. The deck must be checked for stray items and any such items should be straightened out. In cold weather, there is a possibility of slipping due to ice accumulation and in such cases a very strict safety policy must be followed.