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LTI finger injury during mooring operations

What happened

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

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.

Members should review:

Safety Event

Published: 4 April 2023
Download: IMCA SF 09/23

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