Lashing the Top Tier from a Ladder at Berth 7
Berth 7, 04:10. Three lashings hands must lash 46 boxes before a 06:00 sailing. The gantry-mounted lashing platform on the berth's crane was taken out of service that morning; the fitter's tag reads 'guard interlock defective - do not use'. The supervisor tells the gang to take the 3.6 m aluminium extension ladder from the crib and 'be quick'. To reach the top tier of a three-high deck stack, a lashings hand climbs the ladder, steps over the container's top rail, clips his twin lanyard to the corner casting of the box behind, then unclips and re-clips as he walks the 12.2 m length to the far turnbuckle. The box is the outboard one; open deck lies 1.8 m below. Wind at the work front is 14 m/s. His harness was issued in 2019 and has no inspection record. There is no rescue plan for a suspended casualty, and the rescue kit is at the terminal gate, 700 m away. The lashings hand is 58 and wears a knee support.
1. Identify the breaches and explain how this work at height should have been eliminated rather than controlled.
Read the worked answer
The breaches, briefly
- The gantry lashing platform is the designed control and it was knowingly bypassed; the fitter's tag was overridden by a production instruction.
- A ladder is access equipment, not a workplace. A 12.2 m walk along the top tier is not ladder work.
- Stepping over the container top rail with open deck 1.8 m below, with no edge protection and no guardrail.
- Unclipping to move defeats the twin lanyard: there is an unclipped moment on every transfer.
- A container corner casting is not a rated anchor - no tested strength, sharp edges that can cut webbing, and it moves if the box shifts on its foundations.
- Wind at 14 m/s (around Beaufort 7) is beyond any sensible limit for a person working on top of a stack with a harness and no shelter.
- A harness with no inspection record is out of service, not a control measure.
- No rescue plan: a fall in a harness is a suspension-trauma emergency measured in minutes.
How to eliminate the exposure
- Design out the climb: a working lashing platform on every berth crane (the terminal already owns them) so no one needs to stand on a container.
- Ground-level lashing: semi-automatic locks operated from the deck edge and long-handled tools for turnbuckles, so the top tier is lashed without anyone leaving the deck.
- Alternative access: a MEWP with a trained operator and a rescue plan, worked within the wind limit.
- Re-sequence: berth the vessel at a crane with a serviceable platform, or delay the sailing. The 06:00 deadline is a commercial pressure, not a safety argument.
Reasoning to show: 'be quick' with a ladder and a lanyard is a control measure invented under time pressure after the proper control was removed. The correct answer removes the person from the top of the box, not improves the fall arrest.
2. The platform cannot be repaired before 06:00. What defensible options does the terminal have, and who should make the decision?
Read the worked answer
Options, in order of preference
- Repair. Call the fitter out and test the guard interlock. The cheapest and best outcome; a few hours of maintenance against a fatality is not a trade-off.
- Another crane, or another berth, whose lashing platform is serviceable. Move the ship or move the job.
- Approved alternative access. A MEWP with a trained operator, a harness and a rescue plan, working only inside the measured wind limit, with the deck around the unit closed.
- Lash what can be reached safely. Deck-level lashing only, with the remaining top-tier lashing deferred - which in practice means the vessel sails late.
- Delay the sailing. A documented, authorised decision.
Never: ladder plus harness as an improvised platform, a corner casting as an anchor, or an unclipped transfer at height.
Who decides. The berth or terminal manager together with the safety officer, with the ship's planner informed - not the lashing supervisor at 04:10 with three men and a deadline. The supervisor's job is to escalate, and the terminal must back him when he does. Record the decision: the risk assessment, the options considered, who authorised what and why, the wind readings, and the reason for the delay passed to the line. That record protects the supervisor, the terminal and, most importantly, the three men on the deck.
Human factor to name: the supervisor's 'be quick' is the root of the case. A system in which a supervisor feels unable to stop a sailing is the real defect, and fixing the platform interlock alone will not change it.
3. Set out the rescue arrangement and the harness inspection regime this gang should have had.
Read the worked answer
Rescue plan - written for this berth, this shift
- Recognise suspension trauma: a motionless casualty in a harness can deteriorate within minutes. Plan to reach and release the casualty in under about 10 minutes, not 'when the fire service arrives'.
- Equipment at the work front, not 700 m away at the gate: a rescue kit with a lifting/retrieval capability, a rated rope, edge protection for the rope, and a stretcher.
- Trained rescuers - at least two per shift, by name on the gang list, who have practised on this stack height and this deck layout.
- A nominated caller with a radio, the 999 script, the berth address and the rendezvous point for the ambulance.
- Casualty care after release: keep the casualty horizontal, do not let him stand or walk, monitor for shock, hand over to the ambulance crew.
- Drills during quiet periods, recorded; a plan nobody has rehearsed is a document, not a rescue plan.
Harness and lanyard regime
- Pre-use check by the user every shift: webbing cuts, abrasion, stitching, buckle function, lanyard and energy absorber, labels legible.
- Periodic inspection by a competent person at the interval set by the manufacturer (commonly every 6 to 12 months), recorded and tagged.
- 2021-era harness and older - the 2019 harness with no record is quarantined and destroyed, not reissued.
- Anchors must be rated and documented, with a strength sufficient for fall arrest (typically around 10 kN per person); a container corner casting is not one, and a horizontal lifeline across the stack should be engineered and installed by a competent person if that access is ever required.
- Fitness: a 58-year-old with a knee support may still work - but the assessment must consider self-rescue, the ability to hang, and the physical demands, and record its conclusion either way.