Avoid fall accidents – take control

Published: 16/01/2023

Fall incidents is the defined focus area for the Norwegian Maritime Authority for 2023.

37% of all fatalities at sea in the last five years are fall-related. Nearly 600 people have been injured.

We know that in the last 5 years, including 2022, there have been 14 fall-related deaths. These incidents have been related to falls on board, falls overboard or falls on quay in connection with mooring or embarking. A total of 561 people have been injured in a fall, and 349 of these were on sick-leave for more than 3 days.

Because of this, the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has made fall incidents our main focus area throughout 2023.

Checklist

Fill in our digital checklist here

The NMA has made a checklist for fall incidents. Our surveyors will use this list both during certificate surveys and unschduled supervision.

It will be very useful to go through this checklist on all vessels. We encourage all shipping companies and masters to go through the checklist early in 2023.

The checklist is also available digitally for tablets and phones. The digital checklist is intended for shipping companies and masters, and for internal reporting.

Challenging shipping companies and masters

Shipping company:

Encourage (require) masters to read through the information on this website and go through the digital checklist. The list shouls be saved and submitted and reported to the shipping company.

Master:

Use a safefty meeting or similar and go through the information on this website.
Read through all "lessons learned" texts and watch the films. Discuss internally, and take a tour of your vessel to identify places and work operations with a risk of fall incidents.
Through discussions, come up with any new or improved measures for the risk areas in the articles and films.
Complete the digital checklist for fall incidents. The list should be saved and submitted and reported to the shipping company. Please put any comments and note measures on the items where something has been identified, or where measures are required.

Although the NMA is unable to connect the completed checklists to specific vessels, we will be paying constant attention to see if there is something for us to learn or any good measures for us to include in our future safety work.

Accident statistics for fall incidents

The Multi Vision accident

One of the most recent fatal accidents took place on 1 January 2022. The investigation of the so-called Multi Vision accident, where a young able seafarer died, has recently been completed by the Norwegian Safety Investigation Authority. You can watch the investigation video or read the full report here.

The Norwegian Maritime Authority regularly publishes lessons learned from marine incidents and accidents:

Lessons learned – fell through open hatch

The Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) regularly shares incidents where there is something useful to learn. This incident is about a captain who fell through an open hatch on the bridge.

Lessons learned – falls overboard

Sadly, incidents where crew members fall overboard from fishing vessels are common, as is seen from the accident statistics.

Lessons learned – falls into open hatches

An incident was reported recently of a person falling down a ladder that was not safely and properly closed. The hatch had not been checked by the crew before the work started, and the person was beaten badly.

Lessons learned – safe and proper use of ladders, stairways and floors

Accidents and near-accidents on board vessels are often caused by falls from ladders, falls down stairways or falls on floors.

Lessons learned – entering vessels at quay without gangway/ladder

Sadly, accidents in connection with entering vessels are very common occurrences, for instance when crew members or others are embarking or disembarking. It can be tempting to jump from the vessel to the quay, but this can often lead to broken bones or injuries all over the body.

Picture of a man cleaning windows on a ship.

Learning from incidents – Falling / tripping in stairs / ladders

One of the most frequent personal injuries on board passenger-ships, are often falling or tripping while using stairs or ladders. Very little or no use of handrails at all, is in most cases the reason why people fall.

Lessons learned – falls on board

Since the beginning of 2018, the Norwegian Maritime Authority (NMA) has registered 31 fall-related accidents on board Norwegian vessels. As many as 16 of these incidents have resulted in absence from work totalling more than 72 hours for the injured party.