In its latest Safety Digest, which provides lessons learned from an incident where a crewman lost his balance while trying to reposition a net, resulting in falling from the net drum onto the deck below.
The incident
During the early hours of the morning, before daylight, the two crew on board a 10-meter trawler were preparing for their second haul of the night. The weather was fine with a slight swell as the skipper and crewman, neither of whom was wearing a personal flotation device (PFD), made their way onto the deck.
The boat was underway, steering by autopilot as the nets were hauled to the surface. The skipper was working the winch while the crewman waited for the net to be positioned so that he could release the catch from the cod end into the reception hopper on the shelter deck. However, as the cod end was raised it became caught on the lip of the hopper so the crewman climbed up onto the net drum to pull it into the correct position.
When the crewman pulled on the netting to reposition the net, the section he was pulling suddenly broke and came away in his hand. The crewman lost his balance and fell from the net drum to the deck below; landing upright on his feet he almost sat on the bulwark, but his momentum carried him backwards over the bulwark and into the sea.
The skipper witnessed the crewman’s fall and quickly threw a lifebuoy into the sea before making his way down from the shelter deck and into the wheelhouse. He was able to turn the boat and steer back to the area where the deckhand had gone overboard before stopping and calling out to him. The skipper was happy to see the crewman only a few feet away, the unseen lifebuoy floating a short distance from him. The skipper threw a mooring rope towards the crewman who was able to grasp it and be pulled alongside. With difficulty, the skipper helped him back on board.
Lessons learned
- Risk: Ultimately, it is better not to go into the water in the first place. In this case, the crewman was working in a position where he was pulling towards the side of the boat and any failure would almost inevitably lead to him going overboard. A moment to consider the risk of any activity, especially when something changes, is a moment well spent.
- Cold water shock: The sea temperature that night was about 11°C. Falling into water below 15°C can kill a healthy person in minutes. The initial gasp due to the shock of the cold water on your skin may result in water entering your lungs, followed by hyperventilation and a dramatic increase in heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to cardiac arrest. If you are fortunate enough to survive the cold shock period, your body will soon begin to react to the cold and you will be unable to swim, climb a ladder or keep hold of a rope. In this case, the skipper was extremely lucky that he found the crewman quickly and was able to assist his recovery. The outcome could have been very different if the skipper had been unable to locate the crewman or help recover him back on board.
- Equipment: Wearing a PFD when working on the open deck is strongly recommended and is also common sense. Wearing a PFD increases your chances of survival and gives your rescuers more time and a better chance of locating you. Put simply, a PFD can save your life if you end up in the water.