Roll On Roll Off Terminals

Ro-Ro Ship

Access and Egress

Risk of:

  • Serious injury.
  • Drowning.
  • Death.

Possible causes:

  • Collapse of walkway e.g. due to lack of maintenance and inspection.
  • Collapse of linkspan e.g. not using linkspan as designed, overloading, damage to linkspan or ship moves whilst still connected.
  • Lack of proper access.
  • No proper segregation of pedestrians and vehicles.

Chemical Agents

Risk of:

  • Explosion.
  • Fire.
  • Adverse health effects.

Possible causes:

  • Undeclared dangerous goods.
  • Exposure to vehicles exhaust fumes in ship's hold or fumes from terminal machinery.
  • Inadequate ventilation in ship's hold.
  • Leakage of dangerous substances.
  • Nuisance dust from neighbouring bulk cargo operations.

Electricity

Risk of:

  • Burns.
  • Fire.
  • Electrocution.
  • Death.

Possible causes:

  • Faulty refrigerated containers and connections.

Fatigue

Risk of:

  • Increased risk of accident or incident due to reduced concentration and response times.

Possible causes:

  • Working long hours.
  • Working night shifts.
  • Shift patterns.

Fire

Risk of:

  • Burns.
  • Smoke inhalation.
  • Death.
  • Property damage.

Possible causes:

  • Welding, burning or open flame work.
  • Petrol spillage from vehicle.
  • Flammable fuel in tanks or dangerous goods.

Human Factors

Risk of:

  • Increased risk of accident or incident.

Possible causes:

  • Lack of training.
  • Lack of awareness.
  • Inattention.
  • Substance abuse.

Lighting

Risk of:

  • Increased risk of accident or incident.

Possible causes:.

  • Low lighting levels on board ship.
  • Contrast between indoor and outdoor lighting.

Low Overhead Areas

Risk of:

  • Hitting the head.
  • Back pain.

Possible causes:

  • Working under trailers and other low overhead areas.

Manual Handling and Ergonomics.

Risk of:

  • Musculoskeletal disorders.
  • Sprains and strains.
  • Bruises.

Possible causes:

  • Handling heavy lashing systems, chains and prop stands/trestles.
  • Pulling lashings.
  • Kneeling, crawling and adopting awkward positions during lashing.
  • Very little space between trailers.
  • Pushing cars that don't start.

Noise

Risk of:

  • Noise induced hearing loss.
  • Stress.
  • Failure to hear communications resulting in increased risk of accident.

Possible causes:

  • Communication hindered due to noise levels.
  • Vehicle operations and ship's fans creating noise.
  • Noise from chains used during lashing.
  • Unable to hear vehicles approaching or warning shouts.

Ramps

Risk of:

  • Serious injury, drowning or death.

Possible causes:

  • Being hit by a vehicle whilst loading and unloading vehicles onto the ship.
  • Lack of physical separation between vehicles and pedestrians or lack of safe system of work to prevent simultaneous usage of the ramp.
  • Collapse of ramp due to lack of maintenance, improper use etc.
  • Overloading of ramp.
  • Unsafe system of work for loading.

Sharp Edges

Risk of:

  • Cuts.

Possible causes:

  • Handling heavy cargo, lashings, cars etc.
  • Failure to wear protective gloves.

Ship's Cargo Lift

Risk of:

  • Serious injury or death due to fall from height or being crushed by the lift.

Possible causes:

  • Using the cargo lift as a personal lift rather than a cargo lift.
  • Working with or close to the cargo lift.
  • Collapse of the lift.
  • Falling through the open deck during lift operation.

Slips, Trips and Falls

Risk of:

  • Minor injury to broken limb, concussion to serious injury even death.

Possible causes:

  • Installed fittings, rings, lashing points, deck gratings and fittings in the cargo hold acting as trip hazards.
  • Trailing cables from refrigerated containers.
  • Spillages, oil and grease.
  • Weather e.g. wet, slippery decks.
  • Unsafe walking surfaces.
  • Inappropriate footwear.
  • Inadequate lighting.

Vehicle Stowage, Lashing and Unlashing

Risk of:

  • Hitting head.
  • Serious injury or death due to being hit by a vehicle (especially reversing vehicles) or being hit by a lashing.

Possible causes:

  • Lashing and removing lashings from vehicles.
  • Vessel and vehicle movement during voyage making lashings excessively taut.
  • Poor lighting, working in shadow areas or under vehicles.
  • Placing trestles / prop stands under trailers.
  • Poorly designed vessel stowage plan.
  • Several vehicles reversing at same time.
  • Large vehicles being manouevred on vessels not originally designed for such vehicles.
  • Restricted view from driving positions especially when reversing.
  • Runaway vehicle.

Vibration

Risk of:

  • Whole body vibration.

Possible causes:

  • Operation of terminal plant.
  • Inadequate or lack of maintenance of plant.

Workplace Transport

Risk of:

  • Serious injury or death - being hit, runover or crushed by a vehicle or running over the edge of the quay and drowning.
  • Property damage - impact with ship or property.

Possible causes:

  • Lack of, inadequate or poorly designed traffic management system.
  • Inadequate traffic controls.
  • Uncontrolled pedestrian traffic.
  • Simultaneous use of ramp by vehicles and pedestrians.
  • Inadequate segregation of pedestrians and vehicles.
  • Hazarous routes or areas not clearly marked or barricaded.
  • Vehicles or caravan becoming uncoupled on the ship's ramp.
  • Inadequate control of Ro-Ro traffic.
  • Failure to properly apply vehicle and trailer parking brakes.
  • Pedestrian access via the main loading ramp presenting hazards from moving vehicles.
  • Vehicles operating in a confined area.
  • Material failures in cargo transport vehicles.
  • Reversing or manoeuvring of vehicles and trailers into stowage positions on deck.
  • Lashing of vehicles - lasher not visible.
  • Inadequate lighting on board ship.
  • Transition from outside to inside affecting vision.
  • Impaired visibility or blind spots especially when reversing.
  • Trailer coupling and uncoupling on the dockside and on the ship.
  • Improper use or failure to use seatbelts where provided.
  • Unsafe speeds.
  • Low clearance.
  • Weather.

Note: This is not an exhaustive list of hazards and risks.