202065 Trip causes trip to ship’s hospital

Crew were assembled for a lifeboat drill. The lifeboat was lowered into the water and, once tested, was raised again into the stowed position. As the boat came close to its final position on the davit, a crewmember moved forward to check the limit switch. During this movement he tripped on a nearby manhole cover.

Falling forward, he impacted the davit structure with his face, injuring his lower lip and teeth. While the company investigation found that the crewmember was partially responsible due to carelessness, they also found that the manhole cover had not been painted with high visibility paint markings which would help prevent unwanted trips. The manhole cover was subsequently painted in black and yellow zebra markings.

Lesson learned

• Hazards in plain view – once again! This manhole cover was obviously a tripping hazard, yet it had gone undetected and unidentified even though a similar nearby tripping hazard around the lifeboat had already been identified and was zebra-painted.