Description of incident
A contractor was working on the dredging equipment of a UK marine aggregate dredger during a routine dry dock. This work was mainly self-contained but some assistance with lifting equipment on/off the ship was required.
The work in question required several days to complete and all necessary Permit to Work authorisations were issued. On the day of the incident, the work commenced under the same PtW following revalidation in the morning. The work site had been checked and a tool box talk and RA had been conducted for the scope of work for that day.
The Contractor was only wearing a single tail work restraint lanyard (the RA had identified that two lanyards were required for the task). During the work activity the contractor was observed moving off the safety walkway onto the intermediate gantry without using the specified twin lanyards and without clipping his single lanyard to a securing point, thus exposing himself to a potential 10 metre fall (image ‘a’). Once reaching the intermediate gantry, the single lanyard was then incorrectly attached to a vertical wire and not to a fixed point. In the event of a potential fall from this point, the lanyard would have slid down the length of the wire rather than arresting the fall (image ‘b’).