Business Sectors
Contents
Register to read more articles.
Safety: no injuries from dangerously weighted heaving lines
Tug owners in the UK have eliminated injuries from dangerously weighted heaving lines, which had become frequent in the global towage industry, despite being illegal
Statistics from tug owners, collated by the British Tugowners Association (BTA), show there were no injuries in the last year from heaving lines being dropped from ships on to tugboat decks.
Svitzer head of fleet solutions James Burge outlined the BTA’s safety statistics during its annual safety seminar on 11 November.
He said there were no injuries from illegally weighted heaving lines in 2020 or so far in 2021, compared with 10 injuries reported to the BTA in 2018 and 30 in 2016.
Heaving lines are thrown from the bow of ships to the deck of the tug for crew to connect to the towing line. The ship’s crew then heave this line back with the connected towing line, which enables the tug to tow and manoeuvre the vessel.
This operation was witnessed by International Tug & Salvage on a Svitzer tug in the River Thames in 2019.
If these lines are weighted with sandbags they are safe to be collected on the deck and connect to the towing line. But many seafarers still throw down heaving lines with metal weights attached, an illegal practice, putting tug personnel at risk, according to pilots and tug owners at the BTA seminar.
Mr Burge said Svitzer had tackled the issue by encouraging shipping lines to use sandbags to weigh down the line and advised crew to stand clear of the deck when heaving lines are thrown.
“We changed our practices and procedures, for our crews to stand back when lines are thrown, as this prevents crew from being hit and injured,” said Mr Burge.
But there are still injuries on tugs operating in the UK from other hazards such as slips, trips and falls. Other main causes of injury are from machinery issues and manual handling problems.
Mr Burge said the statistics showed the root causes include poor working standards, lack of knowledge, inadequate focus, excessive wear and tear on equipment and leadership issues.
BTA records lost time incidents, other incidents and near misses from reports from its members and collates them in its annual safety statistics.
“It is not surprising most of the incidents happen when tugs are on the job,” said Mr Burge.
There were 31 incidents reported during towing operations, 22 when tugs were alongside, 22 reported during tug mobilisation and five when vessels are demobilised back to base.
Related to this Story
Events
Reefer container market outlook: Trade disruption, demand shifts & the role of technology
11 Jun 2025
BST - ONLINE
Asia Maritime & Offshore Webinar Week 2025
16 Jun 2025BST - ONLINE
Marine Lubricants Webinar Week 2025
16 Jun 2025BST - ONLINE
CO2 Shipping & Terminals Conference 2025
17 Jun 2025LONDON
© 2024 Riviera Maritime Media Ltd.
