No handover leads to crane crush injury

A UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report into a life-changing injury sustained by a second officer during deck crane operations onboard UK-flagged survey and supply vessel Kommandor Orca in 2022 has revealed a number of safety issues.

On 16 August 2022, the second officer of the UK registered survey and supply vessel Kommandor Orca sustained crush injuries to his lower left leg while operating one of the rail-mounted deck cranes. His leg became caught in the crane’s rack and pinion traversing mechanism when he moved the crane aft for a lifting operation. A helicopter transferred the second officer to hospital, where his leg required amputation below the knee.

Safety issue concerns raised in the report which have now been addressed by the shipping company include:

• the crane was not being operated in line with the manufacturer’s instructions
• the method of operation of the crane was unsafe
• there were no onboard procedures for operating the crane and the training given for its operation was consequently flawed

The investigation found that the crane was not being used in accordance with the  manufacturer’s operating manual and that the crew had used the local crane controls designed for emergency use only. There were no instructions onboard for the use of the crane beyond those stated in the manufacturer’s operating manual.

The crew's inappropriate use of the crane controls was normalised behaviour and had been adopted for convenience.

The owner of Kommandor Orca, Hays Ships Ltd, has since introduced measures to prevent a reoccurrence. These include:

• mandating the use of the bridge station and wireless remote control units when operating the rail-mounted cranes
• providing its crews with instruction in lifting operations by an approved training organisation
• a full review of its SMS and amended the sections on crane operations and cargo handling
• fitting Kommandor Orca with bulwark guardrails, rack and pinion guards and a crane emergency stop to enable safe access to the local controls for maintenance, or in the event of a remote control unit failure
• supporting the injured second officer with the intent to continue his employment in a suitable capacity

Kommandor Orca, originally built as an anchor-handling tug supply vessel, had been in cold lay-up with no significant maintenance before the company purchased it in September 2021. Consequently, the senior officers and crew would have had the complex task of commissioning all the ship's equipment and learning its operation without the benefit of a handover of the previous crew’s knowledge. It is likely that the senior officers and crew applied their own experience of ships' systems instead of referring to the manufacturer's manuals and instructions, concluded the investigators.

In view of the actions already taken, no recommendations have been made, said the MAIB report, which was published on 19 September 2024.

Read the full report.