STEP CHANGE FOR SAFETY GLOBAL SHARING SEP 2013 - PILOT LADDERS

GLOBAL SHARING MONTHLY NEWSLETTER CASE STUDY ON PILOT LADDER FAILURES BY MPA SINGAPORE 1. In 2012, there were three cases of pilot ladder failure at a major port in Asia. Investigations revealed that these failures were caused by degradation of the fibre rope and the failure point was where the rope goes through the wooden battens. 2. It was evident that the rope fibres had perished due to damp stowage conditions. These were vessels with short routes in the tropics. The pilot ladders were stowed near the pilot boarding position amidships. The pilot ladders were kept on a wooden pallet and were covered with a canvas cover immediately after use. Such stowage without allowing the pilot ladder to dry contributed heavily to the quick degrading of the fibres and permitted “damp rot” to set in. 3. LESSONS LEARNT: 3.1 Ship masters should ensure that pilot ladders are well laid out to dry. 3.2. Before usage, the ropes of the pilot ladder should be inspected by twisting apart and heckling the inner core BEWARE OF FALLING GANGWAYS THE INCIDENT While preparing to cast off from a customer vessel after supplying bunkers, the Customer vessel's gangway, which had been heaved up, fell onto the deck of our bunker tanker. Fortunately, there was no personnel under the gangway at the time of incident and there was no injury to any of the crew. The only damage sustained was to the railing of our bunker tanker LESSON LEARNT All personnel working onboard should be aware of the environment and any hazards that may be above and around them. As the suspected cause of the incident was due to poor maintenance of the other vessel's gangway wire, there is very little that can be done except to ensure that our crew are conscious of such hazards. In this instance, even if a person was wearing all the proper PPE when the gangway fell, he would have been severely injured due to the weight and speed of the gangway falling. MESSAGE TO THE INDUSTRY Situation awareness can help us avoid casualties and all personnel working onboard should be aware of potential hazards in the working environment. Frequent training and reminders are required to ensure this. 20 September 2013 A Shell Marine Contractors Safety Initiative Page |2

STEP CHANGE FOR SAFETY GLOBAL SHARING SEP 2013 - PILOT LADDERS | Page 4