The Dutch Safety Board has begun an investigation into a fatal accident that happened in the North Sea near the Dutch port of Ijmuiden, when a launch deckhand was transferring from a pilot boat to a seagoing vessel.
Details of the incident are scant as the investigation is ongoing, but the safety board confirmed that a pilot boat crew member became trapped between both vessels as the pilot boat came alongside the larger vessel.
It is the fifth fatality this year, says Gary Clay, of the recently set up Fathom Safety Ltd, which was established by experienced marine pilots him and Andy Birley to educate ship’s crews, pilots and shore-based technical staff in pilot ladder safety.
”The shipping industry has a deadly problem,” Clay says. ”Pilot transfer accidents are an increasing issue and the resulting fatalities and accidents are a blight on our industry’s safety record. The issue of pilot transfer accidents is not a new one, however a new generation of safety focused maritime pilots are increasingly concerned about the issues surrounding pilot ladder safety.”
Clay says education - or lack of it - is at the root of the issue, with crews not being ’wilfully negligent or lax’, but rather having received no formal training in pilot transfer as it is not part of any formal qualification.
“This has allowed bad practice to creep into the industry and this is ultimately what is causing the accidents we are now seeing,” he says.
He highlights three main areas of concern - non-compliant ladders, being damaged or worn, or even counterfeit; non-compliant rigs, where ladders have not been rigged up safely; and vessels that are non-compliant by design.
“As pilots we’ve seen some pretty scary securing arrangements upon reaching the deck of a ship that send shivers down your back,” he says.
Fathom Safety has now designed a 3D training package to try to improve knowledge and raise standards in the industry, Clay says.
“Pilot transfer is, and will remain, an area of risk due to its very nature but we believe we can reduce this risk through education and ensure our colleagues across the globe go home safely at the end of the day,” he says.
