BSafe Case Study 20 — A Line That Sprang Loose From an Open Fairlead

An Overnight Two-Metre Adjustment

Two bulk carriers were moored together at anchor for a cargo transfer, an eight-metre freeboard difference between them. Vessel B needed Vessel A moved forward two to three metres to accommodate the crane grab. Vessel A's master, notified by radio, ordered a warping operation using spring lines rather than wake the off-watch crew to help — despite having noted the chief officer's own tiredness. The operation began at 2234, with the chief officer and an AB on the aft mooring deck preparing to heave the aft spring.

The Line Left Its Fairlead

As the forward springs were slackened and the AB began hauling the aft spring, the line came under tension — and sprang out of its open roller fairlead, striking the chief officer's head and knocking him unconscious. The AB radioed the master immediately. First aid began at once, including oxygen and a defibrillator, and the crew was still breathing with a pulse detected. A local tug attempted evacuation; a helicopter proved unavailable. By the time a paramedic reached him ashore, the chief officer had died — a post-mortem found closed blunt force trauma causing brain swelling and haemorrhage.

What This Illustrates

• An open roller fairlead allows a tensioned line more freedom to jump or spring under load than a closed fairlead design — a real difference in equipment risk profile for exactly this kind of failure.
• The master had explicitly acknowledged the chief officer's tiredness before assigning him to an overnight mooring task rather than waking rested off-watch crew.
• Personnel working near a line under tension were positioned close enough to be struck the moment it failed — the space around a loaded mooring line carries real risk even during a routine, low-distance warping move.