LTI: Serious hand injury – fingers lost in unexpected hatch closure

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 13 July 2023
  • Generated on 14 December 2024
  • IMCA SF 17/23
  • 2 minute read

A crew member was badly injured when the engine room’s emergency hatch cover closed unexpectedly on his fingers

What happened?

A crew person was checking the water tightness of the engine room’s emergency hatch cover.

Safety lock pins, used to prevent the hatch cover from closing, were missing.

To hold the hatch cover from closing, the crew person improvised using a nearby chain which he hooked to a hose support. However, the improvised arrangement failed and the hatch cover closed unexpectedly. 

The injured person had his left hand in the mouth of the hatch, and the hatch cover landed on his fingers. The  tips of his two longest fingers were very badly injured, and had to be amputated.

This incident contains a link to a graphic photograph of the injuries sustained.

There were no safety locking pins for the main engine room emergency hatch cover. Routine inspection was  conducted on the emergency hatch cover as required in the planned maintenance system. The checklist for the  routine inspection was marked as completed, but the job was not actually done

Safety lock pins missing

Crew member was checking water tightness of the engine room’s emergency hatch cover. Safety lock pins, to prevent the hatch cover from closing, were missing. To hold the hatch cover from closing, crew member hooked a nearby chain to a hose support. However, the arrangement failed and the hatch cover closed unexpectedly. The IP had his left hand in the mouth of the hatch, and the hatch cover landed on his fingers. The tips of his two longest fingers were very badly injured, and had to be amputated.

Hatch cover held by chain and hooked to a hose support

A crew person was checking the water tightness of the engine room’s  emergency hatch cover. Safety lock pins, used to prevent the hatch cover from  closing, were missing. To hold the hatch cover from closing, the crew person  improvised using a nearby chain which he hooked to a hose support. H

Hatch cover held by chain and hooked to a hose support

 There were no safety locking pins for the main engine room emergency hatch cover. Routine inspection was  conducted on the emergency hatch cover as required in the planned maintenance system. The checklist for the  routine inspection was marked as completed, but the job was not actually done.

Hand trapped by fallen hatch (RE-ENACTMENT)

What went wrong?

  • Poor spatial awareness: the injured person was not aware of the pinch point; therefore he didn’t stop the job when he saw that there were no safety lock pins on the hatch.

  • The injured person improvised an inadequate and inappropriate method of securing the hatch cover.

  • The toolbox talk did not highlight potential hazards such as line of fire, pinch point, etc. and its mitigation.

What was the cause?

Our Member notes the cause as being an inadequate planned maintenance system which did not highlight the lack of safety-critical locking pins.

Actions

  • Review and modify existing planned maintenance system onboard to ensure it is properly implemented and is not just a “checklist tick”.

  • Reiterate importance of thorough toolbox talks before the job – take the time to think things through.

  • Don’t just improvise safety equipment – stop the job, think it through, get it right.

  • Are there areas in your work where you might be tempted to “just do it anyway?” without the right safety equipment?

Members may wish to refer to the following graphic image of the crew member's injured fingers.

graphic image of injured fingers

This photo may show graphic content.

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