Man who died after falling overboard from Pelican of London was under the influence of alcohol

Skilled seafarer Mark Glover, 64, was a volunteer aid prepare dinner on the Pelican of London when he fell from the gangway of the sail coaching vessel into the water on the night time of two October 2023.

His absence was not famous by the crew till the subsequent morning; a search started on 3 October and his physique was recovered by police divers in Sharpness shipyard in Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

The Marine Investigation Department (MAIB) discovered that the gangway was not rigged safely, because the gangway guard ropes and security web didn’t forestall Glover from getting into the water.

A postmortem examination concluded that Glover was additionally inebriated on the time of the accident and as a consequence of doable chilly water shock, was unable to climb out of the water and subsequently drowned.

Glover had 190 milligrams (mg) per 100 millilitres (ml), equal to 190mg per decilitre (dl), of alcohol in his blood and 212mg/dl in his urine. The Railways and Transport Security Act 2003 prescribed a seafarer’s blood alcohol restrict as 50mg/dl and urine alcohol restrict as 67mg/dl.

Threat assessments by Seas Your Future, the proprietor of the Pelican of London, had been additionally discovered to be not strong.

The MAIB report reveals Glover had drunk at the very least 9 double whiskies and ice on the night of two October earlier than returning to the ship alone at 2307.

He slowly ascended the gangway earlier than pausing to step down in direction of the deck by way of the bulwark ladder; he then misplaced his steadiness and fell from the left-hand aspect of the highest of the gangway, touchdown with a splash into the dock.

This alerted the vessel’s chief engineer who shortly arrived on the effectively deck; he checked the world however failed to note motion within the water instantly beneath the gangway.

The chief engineer went on to test the gangway and went ashore and searched the world ahead of the gangway earlier than returning to mattress, having seen nothing amiss.

When Glover was famous absent from the Pelican of London within the morning, a search was began and the CCTV footage overlaying Sharpness Port was reviewed. The police had been then notified and Glover’s physique was recovered at 1401 by police divers.

On the time Glover fell into the dock, the in-water visibility was “very poor”. Sharpness shipyard is non-tidal and water ranges within the dock had remained close to fixed since Pelican of London had arrived for scheduled repairs and upkeep.

Pelican of London is a 34.6m mainmast barquentine sail coaching vessel, with three decks. It’s coded to The Code of Apply for Security of Massive Industrial Crusing and Motor Vessels,1997, as amended, and was not required to adjust to the Worldwide Ship and Port Facility Safety Code necessities for sustaining a gangway safety watch.

The vessel’s gangway was 5.6m in size, constructed from two separate 2.8m sections.

The gangway had a complete of 4 guard rope stanchions fitted on all sides and these had been every threaded with two guard rope traces, the highest line being at a 1m top.

On arrival in Sharpness, the gangway had been rigged from the ahead finish of the starboard effectively deck to the shore.

Later that very same day, the gangway was shifted barely and rerigged.

The guard ropes from the stanchions on the inboard finish of the gangway had been tied off aft on the shrouds close to the highest of the bulwark, and ahead low down on the starboard aft boat deck upright.

This left vital gaps within the efficient fencing between the highest of the bulwark ladder and the inboard finish of the gangway on either side.

These gaps had been worsened by the electrical cable that ran throughout the guard ropes and didn’t present a adequate barrier to forestall anybody from falling overboard from the highest of the gangway.

The Pelican of London underwent a 12-year refit earlier than she began crusing once more. She was initially a fishing trawler, inbuilt 1948. Credit score: Seas Your Future

The protection web, which ought to have stopped the autumn of anybody toppling from the gangway, was rigged with out a spreader bar. With the web’s outer edges tied low onto the shrouds aft, and onto the bulwark ahead, the web sloped downwards away from the gangway, making a chute that did nothing to forestall Glover’s fall.

The re-rigged gangway was not inspected by a crew member holding a Maritime and Coastguard Company (MCA) Environment friendly Deck Hand certificates to make sure it complied with Code of Secure Working Practices for Service provider Seafarers (COSWP) steering.

“Irrespective of the COSWP, the Nautical Institute’s Mooring and Anchoring Ships publication or a neighborhood work instruction, these rigging and inspecting the gangway had no route to help them of their duties. This meant that there was a reliance on crew studying greatest observe from expertise; nonetheless, with out these formal references and guides, crew replicated what had change into accepted as regular and had been unaware it was unsafe,” acknowledged the MAIB.

The MAIB concluded that the gangway “uncovered all gangway customers to critical hazard as they traversed the gangway, whether or not they had been conducting administrative duties, carrying shops or coming back from leisure time ashore.”

“An onboard process for the rigging of Pelican of London’s gangway, based mostly on trade steering, would have supplied a sound foundation for each crew coaching and post-rigging inspection to make sure the gangway was protected to make use of.”

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Seas Your Future, the proprietor of the Pelican of London, did have a volunteer code of conduct about drug and alcohol use, stating: “Consumption of alcohol…previous to and/or throughout a piece shift is just not allowed. Consumption of alcohol…ought to be loved sparsely. You will need to be certain that your actions don’t convey into query the professionalism of your self or the charity.”

The ship’s operations handbook highlighted excerpts of a medication and alcohol coverage although didn’t reference which one and referenced the alcohol limits detailed within the Railways and Transport Security Act 2003. The coverage didn’t particularly point out crew returning on board from leisure time ashore, although it did state that the one assure [to stay under the prescribed limits] is to not drink for a number of hours previous to an obligation interval. This steering was not replicated within the volunteer code of conduct.

The MAIB concluded that: “The drug and alcohol insurance policies didn’t assist crew members recognise the bounds that utilized to crewreturning from leisure time ashore. There have been early indications of an issue with the aid prepare dinner’s alcohol consumption, however this didn’t lead to an efficient intervention.”

Because the accident, Seas Your Future has:

Revised its procedures and launched an accredited course of for rigging and making the gangway protected;
Fitted bulwark stanchions to supply safe handholds when becoming a member of or departing the ship and to help within the satisfactory fencing of any hole between the bulwark ladder and the inboard finish of the gangway.
Issued and promoted a revised drug and alcohol coverage that’s constant throughout insurance policies, induction proforma, code of conduct and becoming a member of directions, and on native noticeboards.
Launched an audit course of to make sure the adoption of greatest observe.
Amended emergency procedures to incorporate procedures for lacking individuals and launched a move course of to triage potential emergencies.

The MAIB has additionally issued a security flying to the transport trade, highlighting steering on how you can safely rig a gangway.

To learn the complete Pelican of London report. Click on right here.

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