TT Club urges new focus on loss prevention in Marine Terminals

26 Mar 2009 - Terminal Handling

Operational failures - mainly due to human error - were shown to be by far and away the most frequent cause of accidents, being responsible for 79% of all incidents over the last three years.

Following on from the study, TT Club has put forward a number of ways in which ports and terminals can take action to minimise the occurrence of such incidents. The TT Club\'s Director of Global Risk Assessment Laurence Jones, has identified four key areas where he believes port operators should focus their efforts to improve performance and profitability: training; maintenance procedures; operational practice; and redesign of equipment.

Changing Procedures:
The study demonstrates that, although specific training, operational and maintenance procedures and re-design actions have been identified for each type of incident, people make mistakes and no amount of training will eliminate all errors. So although training is very important, it is also necessary to look at what changes can be made to operational procedures, engineering or design, to mitigate the risks or provide a backup for operators and drivers. The long-term aim must be to identify safer ways of doing things to reduce the reliance on training.

However, Jones points out that the root causes of incidents can run much deeper: "Although we talk about human factors or errors, these errors normally result from the systems and procedures, or culture of an organisation. This is largely controlled by management, so management has the biggest part to play in improving safety."

Continuous Safety Awareness:
On training, the TT Club recommends continuous safety awareness training for drivers of terminal equipment with enhanced focus on driver training - especially for straddle carriers and quayside cranes. It believes that greater use of driver training simulators, which have become cheaper and more popular with operators, would pay dividends.

Maintenance should adopt a "preventative rather than breakdown philosophy" the study states. This should involve regular inspections of cranes to prevent structural failures and collapses, and hydraulic/fuel leak fire prevention for lift trucks, reach stackers and straddle carriers. The condition of critical equipment should also be constantly monitored.

Improving Operations:
Improved operational practices should include the introduction of one-way traffic flows and better lane markings in terminal areas - the simple change from two-way to one-way traffic flow has been shown to decrease dramatically the risk of vehicle and pedestrian accidents as well as increase productivity.

Employees and visitors should be given induction training before visiting operational areas to ensure they are aware of safety procedures and traffic rules. Improved procedures that implement proactive and on-going measures to aid understanding of site layout and safety awareness have been shown to reduce accidents considerably.

Ship movement and berthing procedures should be designed to prevent vessels colliding with wharves and in particular quayside cranes - for example by parking cranes away from where the bridge or stern of a ship is berthing, ensuring the boom of the quayside crane is raised, stipulating the use of a pilot and tugs, and adopting special procedures in extreme weather conditions.

Finally the study calls for the redesign of some aspects of port equipment to improve loss prevention. Better crane braking systems can prevent cranes being blown along tracks by high winds. Simple anti-collision devices such as lasers, radars or sensors on cranes and crane booms can save millions of dollars in damage and injuries. Other improvements can include speed limiting devices for vehicles (especially straddle carriers), driver identification to prevent equipment being used without proper authorisation, and the use of CCTV.

Root Cause:
"The focus of most claims activity in the insurance industry is on determining the cause of an incident to identify who is liable", Laurence Jones points out. "However the TT Club seeks to work closely with its members (assureds) to determine the root cause of an incident, and identify ways of preventing or minimising recurrence. Ninety five per cent of the issues identified are common to all port and terminal operations, and it is only by sharing information that life can be safeguarded and operational efficiency improved." This is an important message when operating margins are thinning against a backdrop of significant infrastructure investment in recent years.

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