Work environment and safety in shipping YEAR 41 3/17

THEME: SAFE MOORING

Good leadership on the poop deck....................................................1Choice of mooring rope - a safety issue ............................................2Safety expert wants .............................................................................3 SAN conference 25 October 2017 .....................................................4

Tips from SAN .....................................................................................4Maritime analysts with focus on safety .............................................6 In brief ..................................................................................................7

Calm and methodical mooring is consi-dered to be a question of safety on Silja Galaxy.

“If you have an impatient leadership style, people get nervous and don’t dare to take initiative. This can cause dange-rous situations,” says chief mate, Martin Söderberg.

When we come down to the poop deck where mooring takes place at the stern of the ship, half an hour before arrival the hawsers are already out and checked. Everything is well prepared to make the mooring go smoothly in Värtahamnen, Stockholm.

“We moor four times a day at the same ports, so everyone knows exactly what to do,” says the foreman, Robert Andersson. The poop deck and the foredeck, the moo-ring place at the fore of the ship, are equip-ped with four capstans and a total of eight hawsers. Every six months one of the moo-ring ropes is replaced and there are always two new ropes in stock if something unex-pected happens.

“This was changed last week,” says Ro-bert Andersson, putting his hand on a light-coloured rope that is rolled onto one of the capstans. “It will be there for a few months, maybe six, then we turn it around.” Turning ropes, or offsetting them a few metres on the capstans, means that the wearing points are moved. In this way it is possible to avoid mooring ropes from wearing in the same places.

“Because we moor so frequently, there is a lot of wear,” says Robert Andersson. “But we are thorough when it comes to safety and we make a quick check of the ropes

before every mooring. Once a month we unroll them completely and carry out a thorough check.” After a while, able sea-men Kristoffer Andersson and Matthias Jacobsson come down to the deck together with the chief mate, Martin Söderberg, and trainee officer, Julia Mattisson. The evening sun lights up the deck and the crewmembers stand and chat while the ship approaches the harbour.

“Mooring here is quite easy,” says Krist-offer Andersson. “We have a large area to move around and it’s easy to work with.”

Matthias Jacobsson agrees.“We don’t have a load of pipes and stuff in

the way, and we know how we want things done,” he says.

When the ship glides along the quayside, Martin Söderberg is standing by the rail with an intercom counting down the number

of metres to position. Matthias Jacobsson gets ready to cast ashore the monkey’s fist (a ball on the end of the spring – the first rope) while Kristoffer Andersson stands behind the capstan. Robert Andersson takes over the control unit for the capstan, with trainee officer Julia Mattisson just behind him. Everything takes place safely and metho-dically and they only use signs when com-municating with each other. Martin Söder-berg says that the calm approach is a very conscious working method.

“Just in terms of safety, I believe that the atmosphere when mooring is vital,” he says. “If the foreman has an impatient lead-ership style, shouting and screaming at people, they become uncertain and daren’t say no.”

Robert Andersson reasons in the same way. He explains that he has worked on se-

Good leadership on the poop deck

Silja Galaxy moors four times a day on passages between Stockholm and Turku.

2 SAN-NEWS 3/17

veral ships over the years that have far more stress when mooring and where the-re have also been accidents.

“ I worked for four years on tankers and during that time there were two serious mooring accidents. Both of them could have been avoided if we’d had better routi-nes and a more methodical approach. The reason why it is calm on board the Galaxy is also because we are a ferry service, so we always moor in the same ports. You get to know the crew on the quayside and there aren’t many surprises.” Even though the routines are well established, everyone says that they are mindful of the risks. They have all seen mooring ropes that have snapped and Matthias Jacobsson says that the risk of an accident is always there in the back of your mind.

“You think about it every time you come in to moor the ship,” he says. “I think I’m more aware of it now than when I was younger.” Kristoffer Andersson nods in agreement.

“It’s probably a combination of getting older and gaining experience. The forces released when a rope breaks are enor-

mous.” Risk assessments of mooring work have been made on the Galaxy and it was given a value of four on a scale of six. On the bulkhead just inside the door to the mooring deck there is a map of snap-back zones – places on the mooring deck where a broken rope could reach which should be avoided. One of these zones is behind the capstans where the gears are located.

“When you switch between the two capstans you have to stand here,” says Ro-bert Andersson, stepping up onto the gra-te behind the pair of capstans. You can’t avoid it. The mooring ropes used on the Galaxy are 64 millimetres in diameter, either 120 or 220 metres long with eyes at both ends. The breaking strength is 795 kN, corresponding to just over 80 tonnes, and the same type of rope is used for all moorings.

“We have tested some other ropes over the years but they were rather sloppy and didn’t have a good grip,” says Mattias Sö-derberg. “The ones we have now are good to work with and they are elastic without a powerful snap-back if they break.

Both the foredeck and the poop deck are

covered, so the ropes are protected from rain, snow and sun when they are on the capstans. In really cold winters we also have custom-made tarpaulins to protect the mooring rope from the cold.”

“We are also careful to maintain the hawse-holes. These were sanded and pain-ted in the spring,” says Robert Andersson and nods toward the oval opening in the rail. At quarter past six, Galaxy is moored at the quayside. The deck crew go straight down to the vehicle deck for loading and unloading. In an hour they will be at the mooring stations once again, ready to cast off for the next passage over the sea of Åland.

Linda Sundgren, text and photo

Mooring rope through hawse hole. From the left: Matthias Jacobsson, Julia Mattisson, Robert Andersson, Martin Söderberg and Kristoffer Andersson.

“Be sure to choose the right moo-ring rope for your ship.” This is Thomas Linkruus talking, who has worked with ropes for 30 years.

The first question you should ask when it is time to buy new mooring ropes is: “What do I need for this particular ship?” The size of the ship, the capacity of the bollards and capstans, whether it has roller hawse-holes or fixed hawse-holes and how often and in what condi-tions it is moored are examples of factors that need to be taken into account. An-other important question is the choice of material in the rope itself. Ordinary poly-

amide ropes (e.g. Atlas) or polypropylene ropes are relatively strong and easy to work with. They have some disadvanta-ges, though; they have a large snap-back if they break and they are coarser and heavier than high-performance options such as Dyneema ropes. A new rope has a certain guaranteed breaking strength. With time the strength decreases due to the fibres ageing and external influences such as wear, UV, salt water, cold, paint and chemicals. Ropes are weakened by wear at the bend points around bollards, kings and hawse-holes.

Cont’d on p. 5

Choice of mooring rope makes a big difference

Thomas Linkruus’ tips for safer ropes

• Keep ropes dry and shielded from the sun when not in use. Factors such as UV, sea water, salt and cold can shorten the life of a rope.

• Avoid exposure to chemicals or paints. Certain types of fibres are strongly influenced by such exposure.

• Keep hawse-holes, kings and bollards in good condition. Rust and other rough surfaces cause increased wear on ropes. Paint hawse-holes and other surfaces that the rope touches with low- friction paint.

• Consider the choice of materials when new ropes are being purchased.

• Check ropes regularly on board for any signs of damage. Be parti cularly observant if you have ropes with an outer casing. The casing may provide some protec- tion but at the same time it makes the inspection of strands almost impossible.

SAN-NEWS 3/17 3

Mooring is one of the most hazardous jobs on board and every year there are serious accidents when ships moor in ports. Thorough risk analy-ses and better ship design can reduce the number of injuries. This is the opinion of Ylva Bexell, master and former employee of the Swedish Acc-ident Investigation Authority, SHK.

On 3 July 2011, a chief mate died on board the Dutch cargo ship Morraborg while mooring in Holmsund, just outside Luleå. The accident occurred when the spring (the rope that runs from the bow to a fastening point on the dock, level with the mid-ship) broke and recoiled toward the foredeck, where the chief mate was supervising the mooring pro-cedure. The rope hit him so hard on the head that he died from the resulting inju-ry. Ylva Bexell from SHK investigated the event. According to her, what happe-ned on Morraborg was a rather typical mooring accident. It was crowded on the foredeck, the ropes were undersized and visibility was so poor that the chief mate had to lean over the rail to see what was happening on the quayside. On top of this, the control unit for the capstan was located right where he was standing.

“Just before the rope snapped, the mas-ter had asked the chief mate to move away. But there was nowhere else for him to stand where he could do his job,” says Ylva Bexell. She says that the chief mate was in a classic dilemma: To see what is happening and at the same time stay out of danger.

“This is what every responsible mate has to think of, and I have been in the same situation. It is common that sea-men take a calculated risk to get their job done at all, or to avoid putting their col-leagues in a dangerous situation.”

Finding general solutions in any level of detail to reduce the risk of injury when mooring is difficult, according to Ylva Bexell. Factors such as ship design, con-trol characteristics, weather, wind and quayside design all affect the decisions and events from one time to another. On an overall level, however, she can think of a few measures that could have a di-rect impact on safety. One is about risk analyses.

“But I’m not talking about ticking off items on a check-list five minutes before

mooring. In-depth analyses need to be carried out in peace and quiet, in which both the crew and the shipping office take part. Finding long-term sustainable solutions can take time and require more extensive measures.”

She refers to Morraborg as one ex-ample.

“If a grating had been fitted one floor up on the high bulkhead behind the fore-deck, the chief mate could have observed the mooring work and operated the ro-pes without having to hang his head over the rail. It is possible that a snap-back would not have reached him in such a po-sition, but we would have to make more exact calculations to know for certain. There are many different questions to ask when making a risk assessment of the mooring work,” says Ylva Bexell.

“What sort of mooring ropes do we have? What are their breaking strengths? How do we operate our capstans and what can the brakes withstand? What procedures do we have? Are the ropes dimensioned to moor the ship from a

spring or do we need a tugboat? But making this kind of risk analysis also requires a lot of knowledge.” The second safety measure that Ylva Bexell would like to see is better designed mooring stations on board. In her opinion, there is far too little consideration given to crew-mem-bers and their safety when ships are de-signed and built.

“There are hardly any rules for the de-sign of mooring areas to provide a safe workplace, and those that do exist are formulated in very general terms. Maybe it’s not possible to design completely safe mooring areas, but in any case they could be made much better,” she says. “General knowledge of the risks associa-ted with mooring work also needs to im-prove. There are many guidelines and recommendations written by different players in the maritime industry, and not all of them are entirely correct.” In con-junction with the Morraborg investiga-tion, diagrams were found in a manual from the British Maritime and Coast Guard Agency (MCA) of safe snap-back zones – places on the foredeck and the poop deck where the recoil from a bro-ken rope can’t reach. A closer examina-tion of the diagrams showed that the identified zones were not at all safe.

“A rule of thumb says that a snap-back can reach as far as the total rope length from the break with an expected recoil angle of about 20 degrees,” says Ylva Bexell.

Linda Sundgren, text and photo

Safety expert wants... In-depth risk analyses and better designs

“It is common that seamen take a calculated risk to get their jobs

done at all”

A rope that snaps can cause serious injuries.

4 SAN-NEWS 3/17

Playful work environment conference in LundIt was Sweden’s turn in August to arrange the largest work environment conference in the Nordic countries, arranged annually by the Nordic Ergonomics and the Human Factor Society (NES). Lund University hosted the conference with the theme of Joy At Work and almost 150 participants from 19 different countries made sure that job satisfaction was high on the list! The three-day long NES conferences usually have a great mix of work environment ex-perts. It is a forum where researchers and more practically-oriented players can meet to share research results and experience. The conference provides a good opportu-nity for skills development and networking for everybody who is interested in the work environment. There were some presenta-tions that specifically concerned shipping. From the Maritime Academy, we presen-ted our study on the work environment for service personnel, with the focus on parti-cipation in work environment efforts. Since so many of the challenges in today’s work environments are shared with most other industries, there were plenty of interesting talks to listen to and learn from. On the theme of Joy at Work, we had some lively inspiration from researcher Samuel West to work with our playfulness for a creative and inclusive workplace: if people were not allowed to be silly sometimes, nothing va-luable would ever be done. The message was to create work environments where it is safe to take risks, so that we have the cou-rage to take a step forward and drive inno-vation.In Swedish, ergonomics is often associa-ted with physiotherapy and office chairs.

It is not wrong, but it’s not at all complete. The Greek term means “people at work” and it covers so much more. Ergonomics can be defined as a multidisciplinary re-search and application field, centred on the interaction between people, technology and organisations. The aim is to optimise not only health and well-being but also the entire system’s performance when desig-ning products and work. So it is about the individual and the system as a whole, and creating jobs which are adapted for people. This means that we have to consider diffe-rences in size, strength and ability to ab-sorb and manage information when we design workplaces, tasks and tools. If you want to know more, you can find all the conference topics at www.nes2017.se. Next year’s anniversary conference will take place on Iceland the week after mid-summer. NES will be celebrating its 50th anniversary and I hope that there will be even more of us talking about the mariti-me work environment!

Cecilia Österman/researcher at the Kalmar Maritime Academy

Ergonomics on board - the filmDon’t spend all your leave recovering just to cope with the next shift! That is the message in seven short films on ergonomics produced for SAN’s Da-nish sister organisation, Seahealth. The films take up issues such as hea-vy lifting and awkward postures, and give advice on what you should think over before lifting. http://www.sea-health.dk/side/ergonomi-film.

Questionnaire on the social work environment Prevent, the work environment organisation, has drawn up a questionnaire for investigations into the psycho-social work environment. It includes questions about all aspects, from the volume of work and how much people can influence things to support from managers and general well-being. The survey can be downloaded from Prevent’s website. There is also a short questionnaire on stress (www.prevent.se/enkat-stress) as well as templates for risk assessments and action plans.

~ EDITOR HAS THE FLOOR ~

~ TIPS FROM SAN ~

Work enviromen help with SAN!Order at: info@san-nytt.se eller www.san-nytt.se

WORK ENVIRONMENT COURSE

Interactive course – Better work environment at sea - in Swedish and English. Better work envi-ronment at sea is an interactive course develo-ped by SAN. It is mainly aimed at people who work onboard Swedish flagged ships, but every-one involved in work environment management on ships will find the course useful. The contents are based on the work environment guide for shipping. Read more here or visit the work en-vironment course.

WORK ENVIRONMENT NOTEBOOKWork environment notebook from SAN. SAN has developed a work environment notebook as an aid in systematic work environment manage-ment onboard.It is small and convenient and ea-sily fits into a pocket in your work clothes. In the event of an accident, incident or shortcoming, simply take out the notebook and make a note. The work environment notebook can be ordered free of charge by e-mail: info@san-nytt.se.

WORK ENVIRONMENT GUIDE With the help of the Work Environment Guide, it will be easier to keep track of what laws and regulations require regarding the work envi-ronment onboard, but it can also function as working material for a safety committee, for example. The Maritime Work Environment Guide are available digitally at the SAN website.

SAN-NEWS 3/17 5

09.00 Registration/coffee and buns

09.30 Introduction by Lars Andersson, Chair of SAN/Swedish Shipowners’ Employer Association;

Distribution of SAN prize by Lars Andersson

10.00 Risk assessment in a second at 120 kph by Tina Thörner, Tina Thörner Consulting GmbH

11.00 RAMP for systematic risk management of strain injuries from manual labour - relevant for the maritime industry? Linda Rose, KTH Royal Institute of Technology/ Unit of Ergonomics

11.35 Break

11.50 Work injury statistics by Charlotte Billgren, Swedish Transport Agency

12.10 Perception of work and long-term illness among service personnel by Carl Hult, Linnaeus University

12.40 Lunch

13.40 The nature of vibration and noise - health effects, regulations and actions by Hans Pettersson, Umeå University

14.25 Risk assessment of chemicals - the “forgotten” risks by Annelie Rusth Jensen, Viking Supply Ships AB

14.45 The art of doing things right from the start - experiences from new ship construction projects by Mattias Pettersson/Bertil Pettersson, BRP Rederi AB

15.05 Coffee break

15.35 Regulating the work environment - future changes by Christina Östberg, Swedish Transport Agency

15.45 Risk assessment of what is not visible - the interior environment on board and personal exposure by Sarka Langer/Cecilia Österman IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute/Linnaeus University

16.15 The significance of leadership for good crisis management Per Calleberg, BrolinWestrell AB

17.00 Buffet

With reservation for any necessary changes.

SAN conference 25 October 2017Scandic Crown: risk management in theory and practice

Continued from page 2.

“When a rope breaks it often happens at just those places where it is most worn,” says Thomas Linkruus.

He recommends a regular review of the ship’s ropes, but points out that there is a difference between normal wear and da-mage that may affect breaking strength. A rough surface does not reduce the rope’s capa-city. Some manufactu-rers have recommenda-tions for how rope should be handled, de-pending on wear or da-mage. Either replace the entire rope, or re-pair it by removing the damaged section and splice on a new eye. A correctly repai-red rope is as strong as the initial rope, and the repair does not affect the brea-king strength, he says. How often moo-ring ropes need to be replaced also de-pends on the material they are made from and how much they are used. According

to Thomas Linkruus, basic ropes may need to be replaced every one to two years while mooring ropes in stronger materials can be used for many years. In recent years, mooring ropes in newer ma-terials have become more widespread on the market. The new ropes are made of fibres such as Dyneema, for example.

“They are as strong as steel cable but weigh considera-bly less than conven-tional ropes. This makes them easier to handle and if they break, the snap-back is much less than many other ropes. The purchase price

is above average, but on the other hand they last longer, so in certain applications and for certain types of ships it may be less expensive in the long term to invest in a Dyneema mooring rope.”

Linda Sundgren, text and photo

”When a rope breaks it often

happens at the places where it is most worn”

Handling mooring rope in Nynäshamn.

6 SAN-NEWS 3/17

Early in his career, Master Patrik Jönsson realized that safety must come first in all work on board. These days he drives maritime safety and work environment issues at the Transport Agency.

Patrik Jönsson says that all seafarers have two roles. One is their daily work, loading and unloading, cooking, cleaning, naviga-ting or whatever else is required. The se-cond is their work as a cog in the safety or-ganisation on board; it is primarily to prevent incidents, but if an accident should happen, to act in order to minimise injuries and damage. As a newly graduated Master on Finnlines’ Malmö Link, Patrik Jönsson realized this double job that seafarers had and since then he has been working to im-prove safety culture at sea.

“Getting to grips with the ISM manual and thinking about how to behave, dress, practice and think about safety work was really exciting for me when I was working on board,” he says. Patrik Jönsson is well aware that not all his colleagues share his interest in codes and procedures, but he be-lieves that a lot of this is about attitudes, which can be influenced.

“For my own part, it meant a lot that we had one of the officers on board who appre-

ciated our work and encouraged us. A col-league and I drove security work together and we were pretty good at getting the oth-ers on our side,” he says and continues.

“It is so easy to write an ISM which is only theoretical and doesn’t connect with the real world, but then it doesn’t do any good. You have to work with the code in practice for it to be relevant, and it’s im-portant to get everyone on board behind the work.”

Seaman at a mature agePatrik Jönsson started studying to be a

Master when he was almost 30, and quickly discovered that life at sea suited him very well. He enjoyed working intensively for li-mited periods and then being at home, and he liked the work itself as well.

“I appreciated that the work on board was so concrete and operational. You trans-port a load from A to B and if there are any problems, you solve them there and then.” But after ten years at sea, with four children and a wife who had recently become head of unit at the Swedish Maritime Administra-tion, he could no longer work on board and have a family life. In October 2013 Patrik Jönsson started as a coordinator in the Swe-dish Transport Agency, focusing on acci-dent statistics and analysis.

“But I have a tremendous advantage from having worked at sea. Coming up with

action plans and finding solutions is almost impossible if you’re not familiar with the ship environment and know the jargon on board.”

One of his most important tasks at the moment, he says, is to get staff on board to write more deviation reports. The majority of the roughly 200 reports that come in to the authority every year are about serious accidents, while only a fraction are about incidents and deviations.

“We usually say that for every serious ac-cident there are 29 less serious accidents and 300 deviations. If only we got the same number of incident reports as accident re-ports, that would be a major step forward,” says Patrik Jönsson.

The importance of reporting deviations can’t be overestimated, according to Patrik Jönsson. Taking up risks and problems be-fore they lead to more serious events is fun-damental to the preventive approach to work environment and safety work that the agency runs, and without incident reports there is a risk that you miss important shortcomings and weaknesses.

“If we know what doesn’t work, our in-spectors can concentrate on the right things when they are on board. We can then create a safer merchant navy where people feel better, they are off sick less and the ships need less time in the yard for repairs.”

Linda Sundgren

Master Patrik Jönsson Maritime analyst with a focus on safety

Patrik Jönsson thinks that his job at the Swedish Transport Agency has broadened his views on maritime safety.

Patrik JönssonAge: 46 Family: Wife, who is also a Master and head of unit at the Swedish Maritime Administration, and six children. Lives: In a house in the country outside Söderköping. Background: Construction wor-ker before he started studying to be a Master in autumn 1998 at Chalmers University of Techno-logy in Gothenburg. Navigation officer with Finnlines between 2003 and 2013. After that at the Swedish Transport Agency.Currently: Driven analyst at the Transport Agency who, among other things, is working to in-crease the amount of deviation reports handed in to the agency. Work environment tip: Work with some form of risk assessment met-hod, such as STARC: Stop. Think. Act. Reflect. Communicate.

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~ THE PROFILE ~

SAN-NEWS 3/17 7

Better work environment under the EU flagThe European Commission wants the EU to improve working conditions for seafarers on EU flagged ships. Measures include better protection for seafarers on board ships that are abandoned by their owners in foreign ports for financial reasons, as well as increased protection for those on long-term sick leave due to injuries at work.

(Safety for sea)

Unfair competition en-dangers work environment En av fyra arbetsgivare inom trans-portsektorn uppger att de skulle ha svårt att överleva om de följde gällande regler. Det här visar en undersökning från Arbetsmiljöverket. Totalt deltog 3200 arbetsgivare inom fyra branscher där transport och bygg var mest utsatta. Undersökningarna är en del av ett större arbete för att motverka osund konkurrens som kan öka riskerna i arbetsmiljön.

(AV)

Indonesia adopts the MLC One in four employers in the transport sector say that they would find it hard to operate if they followed all the rules that apply. The information came from a sur-vey conducted by the Work Environment Authority. A total of 3,200 employers par-ticipated from four sectors, in which transport and construction were the most vulnerable. The surveys were part of a lar-ger scheme to combat unfair competition.

(ITF)

~ IN BRIEF ~

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Editorial committee: Johan Marzelius, SjöbefälsföreningenMikael Huss, SjöbefälsföreningenKarl-Arne Johansson, SEKO sjöfolk

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