Why falls at sea happen even when everyone followed the permit
Estimated read time: 70–85 minutes
Audience: Cadet → AB → Junior Officer → Chief Mate
Introduction – Height removes second chances
Working aloft and overside combines three unforgiving elements: gravity, exposure, and false confidence. Tasks are often routine — painting, inspections, minor maintenance — and carried out by experienced personnel using familiar equipment.
The danger lies in the assumption that permits and PPE control risk. They do not. They only manage known hazards. Falls occur when the system behaves in a way nobody anticipated — and at height, anticipation is everything.
What staging and access systems really are
Staging, bosun’s chairs, and man-riding systems are not work platforms in the shore-based sense. They are temporary suspensions, relying on ropes, shackles, hooks, and human setup. They have no inherent redundancy unless deliberately built in.
A single incorrectly loaded shackle, a worn rope, or a misrouted line can convert a stable platform into a falling system instantly.
Permits: control, not protection
Permits to work create structure. They do not create strength. Many fatal falls have occurred with valid permits, toolbox talks completed, and PPE worn correctly.
The misconception is that paperwork reduces physical risk. In reality, it reduces organisational risk. Physical risk remains governed by equipment condition, geometry, and load paths.
Overside work: where motion becomes vertical force
Working overside introduces vessel motion directly into the suspension system. Even small rolls or wakes can generate vertical loading that was not present when the platform was rigged.
Crew often underestimate how quickly these loads appear. A staging that feels solid can unload and reload in seconds as the ship moves, shock-loading attachments and knots that were never designed for it.
🔻 Real-World Failure: Fatal Fall During Overside Work on Board Maersk Eindhoven
In 2015, a crew member on board the container vessel Maersk Eindhoven suffered a fatal fall while working overside during routine maintenance. The task was planned, authorised, and involved experienced personnel. Safety equipment was in use.
During the operation, the access arrangement failed, and the crew member fell from height. Investigation findings pointed not to reckless behaviour, but to insufficient redundancy and unrecognised loading changes within the access system.
The staging and securing arrangements had been accepted as adequate based on prior use. No single component was dramatically defective. The failure occurred when conditions changed slightly and the system responded in a way that had not been anticipated.
This case reinforces a recurring pattern across overside fatalities:
The system did not look unsafe until it was already failing.
Why experienced crew are still at risk
Experience reduces some risks but increases others. Familiarity leads to trust. Trust leads to acceptance of marginal setups. Marginal setups leave no buffer when conditions change.
Senior deck officers understand that experience does not compensate for physics. It only helps identify when physics is about to assert itself.
Knowledge to Carry Forward
Working aloft and overside is not dangerous because people ignore rules. It is dangerous because systems that look stable can fail without warning once gravity and motion interact. Permits and PPE are necessary but insufficient. Safety comes from conservative rigging, redundancy, and an assumption that conditions will change at the worst possible moment.
At height, there is no recovery phase.
Failure is final.
Tags
On Deck, Working Aloft, Working Overside, Staging, Bosun’s Chair, Permits to Work, Fall from Height, Human Factors, Deck Safety, Failure Modes