Boatyard Safety

[Alge Thomas]

Hi to all..


I'm new here, and will soon be involved in managing safety in a boatyard. I have been wondering what the biggest cause of accidents is in the boating industry when boats are onshore?
I should imagine its falls from height, transport, lifting & stacking, chemicals, water safety etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Regards


Al Thomas

[neilpride]

Lifting AKA travelifts or trailers, chocking boats , placement of stands , keel chocks...

If the boatyard is also in charge of lowering masts, there you have another source of accidents.

Everything I've seen in years has been due to staff oversight.

[Alge Thomas]

Thanks Neil


Interesting that. As each vessel may have slightly different requirements with regards chocking or stacking, do the Manufacturers provide bespoke instructions, or is it left to the boatyard/user to carry out a specific Risk Assessment for each?




Al Thomas

[neilpride]

Every boatyard is different, I had a diver friend who used to dive in every boatyard to fit the travelift straps, in others not, and I have also seen owners approaching with plans and documentation to support the boat, also people who have no idea, all at the boatyard risk.

Where I used to work they didn't lift wooden boats, so you can figure it out...

Where I have also seen many accidents is on the ladders kindly provided by the boatyard to get on the boat once ashore.

[Alge Thomas]

Neil


Cheers for the info. Tricky one concerning ladder access. Vehicle yards now often provide a platform whereby no-one can fall off a trailer, or a soft landing system etc. Practical solution a bit more difficult in a boat yard where the height and shape vary.


Thanks again

[Kettlewell]

IMHO having worked in a boat yard for awhile the big accidents are rare. It is the typical small stuff that gets people hurt. Someone cuts themselves with a tool. Someone burns themselves working with something hot. Someone drops something on their foot. Someone inhales fumes without a respirator. Someone gets some chemical on their skin. Someone cuts through a live electrical wire. Someone ignites a fuel tank while welding. That sort of thing. The worst accident we had while I was there was when a junior employee was unrigging a small sailboat. The yard manager walked by and jokingly told the junior employee not to pull all the pins! Of course, that is exactly what the employee did, the mast fell down, hitting the yard manager on the head. Stupid stuff causes the most accidents.

[kayakerChuck]

I work in boat yards.

Forklifts and trailers are usually what cause the grief. It'd good to have a spotter when moving big things.

It was also fun to watch a MarinaBull break thru the concrete and into a sinkhole, with a 33'(?) SeaRay on the forks.

[Alge Thomas]

Kettlewell


There seems to be a thread emerging here, but its all helpful information and thanks. if you kettle well enough, I might have to pop in for a brew.


Do you issue Hot Works Permits in a boat yard as we do in construction and engineering?



Regards


Al Thomas

[Kettlewell]

Do you issue Hot Works Permits in a boat yard as we do in construction and engineering?

In the small boatyards where I have worked there weren't Hot Works Permits. In fact, there is very little oversight of anything done at small independent boatyards. At one point my wife was involved with getting people jobs in the marine industry and many facilities just blatantly ignored most safety precautions. Hopefully things have changed for the better, but not in the small boatyards I observe as a boat customer. Another boatyard incident that was interesting was when the truck hauling a big powerboat on a hydraulic trailor got stuck on the ramp. The boatyard hooked up one of its big forklifts to the truck with a chain to the front bumper. With both pulling as hard as they could the front bumper just popped off the truck and flew through the air over all the boats in the boatyard and disappeared over the trees.

[Kettlewell]

The Mattapoisett boatyard fire was caused by someone doing some welding around fuel tanks. https://www.necn.com/news/local/mass...-tank/2810047/

[Alge Thomas]

Thanks again for the advice and info Gents..

[boatpoker]

Look at the Google images for "marina, boatyard fires. Devasating !

https://www.google.com/search?q=mari...ih=535&dpr=1.1

[hugosalt]

Worked in a yard that launched/hauled certain boats with a 45 ton crane.
My boss, a friend, operated the crane (very green) had a hang up taking direction
from any of us signalers creating a few close calls. I confronted him to no avail and cautioned others to be aware.
I left a nice job followed by 2 others. They don't use the crane much anymore, guessing no one experience would work on the ground.
Takeaway.. need to know hand signals and work with ground crew.

[Fintry]

In three years running a yard many years ago, we had only one lost time accident -- a very experienced carpenter cut his leg with a chisel while removing bad plywood from a Grand Banks 32 deckhouse. He had a few stitches and was back the next day.


Jim

[Bellinghamster]

Earlier this year I had the 86ft Nordhavn that I manage hauled (on a 300 ton travel lift!) for a bottom job. One of the spotters was green and didn't notice one of the six slings had caught on a hydraulic stabilizer fin. Thankfully the lift operator saw things going wonky before putting too much force on it, but it was a close one to being VERY expensive. I'm surprised they didn't have a diver in the water for that lift, as sling positioning was pretty finicky.

I'm always amazed at the aftermath of toppled boats in a yard after a hurricane. Sure seems like de-masting, burying the keels, using cradles instead of jackstands, etc. in those regions could have prevented a lot of losses.

Big risk of managing a boatyard in the US now is getting fined for pollution. Many of the yards around me no longer allow DIY because of it (or so it seems, but they also make a lot more money from that policy)