Marine safety should always be your no. 1 priority. This should be easy for you to do as numerous laws, regulations, and protocols are now in place to ensure worker safety in the marine industry. However, some people still miss important factors. To give you an idea of how critical it is to plan for marine safety, we’d enlist 10 important factors that you should always consider when planning for it. When faithfully guided by the following, you can be sure that you’d always have nothing to worry about.
Factor #1: Boarding Risk
Boarding safety is something that you should never miss when planning. This is highly critical because marine safety always ultimately involves two things: loading and unloading. To secure this, always have safety parameters for the following:
- The solid placement of docks for seamless and secure ship attachment
- Safe transfer of people on and off the ship. To secure this, you should closely work with experienced wharf platform engineers – similar to experts from Bend-tech DEFENCE – who can provide customized tools for the secure transfer of not just loads but people.
- Daily operational equipment that can block your worker’s way
- Changing ship configurations
- Limited space
- Changing water height
Factor #2: Worker Safety from Falling in the Water
With today’s advanced technology and safety protocols, no worker should have to suffer from falling into the water. This is because it is a highly dangerous situation that can easily lead to death. This is the case because a worker may suffer the following:
- Get caught in the current
- Get pressed between a dock and a shop
- Fall into barges with toxic or harmful materials like coal or grain
When planning for marine safety, ensure that your workers are always far from experiencing such incidents.
Factor #3: Daily Risks
You should always be well aware of daily risks that are unique to your field of operation. You should have unique safety protocols if your area is rich with unique species or is known to suffer from severe weather disturbances on a regular basis. To do this effectively, you should do a separate safety checklist for everyone involved. The following deal with different marine risks so you should have separate safety checklists for each:
- longshoremen
- pilots
- supervisors
Factor #4: Common Gangway Risks
You should never risk it when it comes to gangways. Workers often skip on securing gangway safety whenever they simply want to “get the job done.” This is extremely dangerous and is never a safe way to operate. Workers should never normalize making makeshift wooden planks. Such activity increases the probability of workers falling into the water by 500%. All gangways should be properly secured and none should have any of the following:
- Poor lighting
- Loose handrails
- Badly positioned gangway netting
- Slippery surfaces
- Wet surfaces
- Weakly secured gangway netting
Factor #5: Gangway Requirements from OSHA
To secure that your gangways are always safe, you should duly comply with safety protocols from Occupational Health Services Australia (OSHA). OSHA requires the following:
- Regularly maintained and repaired gangway
- Secure gangway
- Railing of at least 33 inches in height
- Presence of midrails
- Taut rails made of chain, pipe, wood, wire, or rope
- Properly trimmed gangway
- A walkway that is over one foot away from the apron’s edge
- Clear supporting bridles
- An access point that is off-limits from drafts of cargo
Factor #6: Safety Equipment
For supreme marine security, you should also never miss out when planning for special safety equipment. Having them will doubly secure everyone’s safety at all times. When considering safety equipment, always put budget as one of the last things to consider. You should instead prioritize looking for ones that are of the best and premium quality. The better the quality of your safety equipment, the more peaceful and stress-free you and your workers would be when it comes to marine safety.
Factor #7: Versatility and Flexibility of Equipment
Every day is a unique working day when one operates a marine facility. Different challenges and risks can easily pop up on any given day. Hence, it should be your priority that all your equipment can easily adapt to changing environments and needs. Your equipment should be versatile when it comes to the following situations:
- Changing water height
- Limited dock space
- Blocked access points
Factor #8: Slip and Fall Resistance of Used Equipment
You should endeavor to make all your equipment slip-resistant and fall-resistant. Dedicate weeks to studying every single operational step that can lead to risks of someone slipping or falling. Once all operational tasks that are open to risks of slipping and falling are determined, you should duly apply the following safety protocols:
- Secure that all handrails are sturdy
- Secure that all walk surfaces are slip-resistant by using treads or angled cleats
- Secure the presence of midrails
Factor #9: Material Fidelity of Equipment
All your safety equipment should be made of highly durable materials. They should all be of premium quality to ensure that they get to secure the safety of your workers in an effective, reliable, and flawless manner. Durable materials will also ensure that they last for years to come. Opt for equipment made of aluminum as they are strong, lightweight, and corrosion-resistant.
Factor #10: Green Equipment
Lastly, you should also ensure that all your equipment is environmentally-friendly. All should be customized and duly boosted to avoid oil leaks. You can do this by using gangways that are powered by electricity. You can also opt to have a leak containment system.
