A crew member on Vigo-based Spanish fishing vessel Novo Alborada (IMO 9242027) died as a result of an improper manoeuvre (“maniobra inadecuada”) during the movement of the trawl doors, the La Comisión de Investigación de Accidentes e Incidentes Marítimos (Ciaim) has said in its recently published report regarding an incident on June 24th 2018 in the port of Castletownbere, south-western Ireland.
In addition, the report noted that there had been a lack of supervision of the officers and bo’sun and that this contributed to the accident in which the 51-year-old sailor died. The victim had only been working on that ship for about three months, although he had extensive experience on similar ships.
Ciaim found that, at around 08:40 local time the crew was moving the trawl doors from their stowage position aft to the deck for inspection. During the manoeuvres, one of the sailors was seriously injured when he was hit by one of the mobile elements that formed part of the starboard door stowage system. He was taken to hospital but died three days laterl.
The report found that “the cause of the accident was the impact on the sailor of some of the mobile elements arranged in the espardel for stowage and fixing the door, when it fell abruptly when trying to move it through an inappropriate manoeuvre, both due to the use of a lantheon with strong twisting and rubbing on the espardel as by the use of a windlass
without the retention capacity of the hoisted door”.
The report said that the accident could not be attributed to failures in the execution of the sailors in charge of unhooking the chains from the doors, nor could it be attributed to failures of the sailor in command of the windlass. The door fell suddenly and the elements of its support “made a whip movement” in such a way that they hit the sailor at the chest and arms. The door then fell to the bottom of the port.
The trawl doors weigh about a ton apiece. They are stowed at the stern end, on both sides of the ramp outside the hull, and are secured to the ship’s structure by means of various chains and ropes.
In the safety recommendations, Ciaim called on the skipper to ensure that the trawl door transfer manoeuvre always be carried out following the usual and proven procedures, and specifically,” that the deck turnstile or any machinery that does not have the ability to brake or maintain a fixed position, or total control over the traction and positioning of the suspended door, is not used.”
It is also requested that the prohibition of using the deck windlass or any machinery that does not have braking capacity or maintain total control over traction be included in the occupational risk prevention plan.
2001-built, Spain-flagged, 391 gt Novo Alborada is owned and managed by Alborada Pesquerias, A Coruna, Spain.
