Fatigue resulted in seafarer's death

It's well known, that fatigue while in a voyage can lead not just to material losses, but also affect the safety of crew members. The Chief Technical Labor Inspector of the Seafarers' Union of Russia, Evgeny Khizhnyak, told about one of such cases. In this January, one Russian seafarer died during a cargo operation on board a Panama-flagged refrigerator ship stayed at the outer anchorage of a New Zealand's port. The incident occurred during the loading of fish products from a tuna trawler. Crew members were placing frozen tunas in hold No. 2 - they were transshipped on board in a cargo net with the help of winches. The boatswain operated the winches. When another trawler with fish approached the refrigerator ship, cargo operations were stopped. All the seafarers who were on the upper deck, including the boatswain, went to moor the ship. At that time, the crew members in the hold finished placing the previous cargo lot. The Chief Engineer, not involved in cargo operations, began, on his own initiative, to lift an empty net from the hold using the cargo winch. During the lifting process, the cargo net caught on the insulating hold lining and tore out a piece of it, which fell down and hit the seaman in the hold on the head. Arrived on board doctors declared the seaman dead. Evgeny Khizhnyak noted that the investigation into the causes of the accident is still ongoing. However, he talked to people close to the investigation and considers that the cause of the tragedy was the fatigue of the Chief Engineer and inadequate arrangements of safe cargo operations on board the ship. Khizhnyak emphasized that at the time of the incident, the Chief Engineer had been on the voyage for more than eight months. The Chief Technical Labor Inspector of the Seafarers' Union of Russia strongly recommends that crew members monitor their hours of work and rest, especially the hours of sleep, and to apply for assistance to the trade union in cases there are violations of working hours. “Don’t let fatigue become the norm,” - he warned.

Photo — ISWAN