SAFE LIFTING OF NON—CARGO LOADS (VIDEO)

A ship is a working environment which is all about transporting things or people from one place to another. When a ship is carrying manufactured goods of bulk products, they often have to be lifted using cranes, grabs or other lifting gear, and this can be dangerous if not done properly.

This training video supplements a booklet released earlier. It is quite easy to forget that on all ships, whatever the carry, there are many lifting operations which have nothing to do with cargo, and they can be the most dangerous of all. Bringing different cargo items, such as crew possessions, provisions and spares aboard the ship is an important task, but crew members are always busy and time is short.

When hoists and cranes are used for any task, the potential of an injury and even death is significant, especially if the job is done in a hurry, or by the people with less experience than required. Let us see what can go wrong in the course of these operations. There might be poor communication between key personnel involved in the handling operations.

Someone might have disabled the end stopper or a level switch perhaps, or another safety device on the associated lifting equipment. Or maybe someone has not checked if the load does not exceed the safe working load marked on the gear… Any of these mistakes can result in the serious incident.