Published: 9 May 2014
"When discharging reefer containers the ship’s crew are not rolling the power cable up and stowing it away into the cable tray which is attached to reefer unit. Instead the crew are gathering the cable and tying the cable in a bundle and leaving the cable hanging out of the reefer unit. On this particular voyage approximately 170 import reefers of which approximately 90 have had the cables bundled up. The cable, which weighs up to 20kg depending on the length, could snag while the reefer container is being discharged and become damaged only being attached to the container by a thin rubber sheath. This action has the potential to cause serious injury to various parts of the workforce in the following way. Cable could fall on people working on the deck while reefer container is being discharged. The pin person is walking below a suspended load to pull cable back as reefer container is lowered onto pin cradle. If damaged, the cable could fall on the pin person as they gather cable and move it away from the reefer container as it is landed on pin cradle. The pin person is required to stow the cable in the cable tray while the reefer container is on the pin cradle. This is done by climbing on the side of the pin cradle, standing on the edge of the pin bin or by other means If the cable has been damaged during discharge, there is the possibility of an electric shock when the reefer attendant plugs the cable into the power source. Reefer attendant could injure shoulder removing bundled up cable. When reefer attendants are working at the top of a ladder to remove the cable from the cable tray the sudden shift of weight of the bundled up cable falling against the reefer attendant could cause the reefer attendant to lose their balance and fall from the ladder"
DP World - Melbourne
Sydney
