Fatal Fall From Height – Green Future

Tragic Fall: The Hidden Dangers of Inadequate Safety Barriers | Republic of the Marshall Islands – International registries Inc. | Green Future Investigation Report

What Happened: On 20 August 2024, the cargo ship GREEN FUTURE was drifting, preparing for new cargo. The crew was washing Cargo Hold No. 2. To access the lower hold, a portable pontoon was removed, leaving a deadly 7.8-meter drop. An Ordinary Seafarer was helping manoeuvre a fire hose near the open edge.

A temporary barrier was rigged, but it was poorly made. Instead of a taut wire, it was a single line sagging to just 0.2 meters high in the center. The seafarer also had a visual impairment but was not wearing prescription safety glasses. While handling the hose, he fell. He briefly grabbed the sagging line but could not hold on, falling 7.8 meters. Despite a helicopter rescue, he tragically passed away.

Immediate Operational Checks: Officers, take the following actions on your watch today:

• Inspect Barriers: Check temporary barriers near open edges. Ensure they use taut wire rope with an upper rail at 1 meter and an intermediate rail at 0.5 meters.
• Verify Aids and PPE: Confirm crew needing visual aids wear safety glasses that fit over their prescriptions. Use fall arrest devices, harnesses, barriers and work positioning ropes.
• Prepare Rescue Gear: Inspect your high-angle rescue stretchers. Ensure the team knows how to correctly secure and extract a casualty from a height, or after a fall from height, using the proper stretcher.
• Check Supervision: Ensure the Safety Officer or his delegate actively monitors the team, rather than being distracted by physical labour. Ships without bosuns or safety representatives should appoint a qualified officer who has reviewed the risk assessment.
• Review all of your risk assessments and procedures for working at height hazards today.

Lessons Learned:

• Fight Normalized Risk: Months at sea can seriously warp our perception of danger. When safety standards are routinely violated without incident, a deadly “normalized risk” mindset takes root. Many ships battle a stubborn “tough guy” culture where safety is viewed as weakness. Other mariners may have never seen proper prevention procedures followed in their entire careers. Furthermore, psychological or cultural inhibitions often stop crew members from ordering harnesses or requesting proper work-at-height PPE and rescue gear. To overcome this blind spot, leaders must break the silence. Treat every potentially dangerous task as if it is your first time doing it. Actively reward crew who speak up, and make demanding proper gear the standard, not the exception.
• Mandate Fall Gear: If a proper rigid barrier is not possible, crew must wear fall protection harnesses and lifelines.
• Empower Stop-Work: Ensure every sailor knows they have the absolute right to stop unsafe operations.

It is incredibly difficult to build a safety culture. Particularly when a safety culture is opposed to the pre-existing culture of your crew. Induction, example, and enforcement must be consistent. Praise in public, criticise in private. Don’t be embarrassed to take the lead in changing the culture on your vessel. Better to save a life, than to save face.

Tags: Fall Prevention, Cargo Hold Safety, Risk Perception, Stop-Work Authority

Official Report: GREEN FUTURE – Casualty Investigation Report