Hand and Finger Safety at Sea: What P&I Clubs, the MCA and Flag States Say

The Number That Should Shock the Industry

Around 40% of all personal injury claims reported to P&I clubs involve hands and fingers. Gard — one of the world's largest marine mutual insurers — has cited this figure consistently across multiple loss prevention publications. UK P&I Club data shows hand and finger injuries are the most frequent single injury category by body part across all vessel types. NorthStandard (formed from Standard Club and North P&I) published dedicated “Hands On” guidance specifically because the frequency remained stubbornly high despite widespread industry awareness. West P&I and Skuld have issued similar alerts, noting that hand injuries account for a disproportionate share of crew personal injury claims relative to other injury types.

In May 2026, Liberia's Maritime Administration issued Marine Advisory 14/2026 on the prevention of finger and hand injuries, covering safe handling practices, pinch point awareness, and compliance with SMS requirements. That a flag state responsible for over 4,500 vessels felt it necessary to issue a dedicated advisory on this specific injury type reflects how persistent the problem remains across every vessel type and trade route.

The MCA's Code of Safe Working Practices for Merchant Seafarers (COSWP) addresses hand and finger injury prevention across its sections covering PPE, mooring operations, deck machinery, and permit-to-work systems. The regulatory framework, P&I guidance, and flag state advisories are consistent: these injuries are predictable, well-understood, and almost entirely preventable. The gap is between the written procedures and actual practice on board.

Where the Injuries Happen: P&I Claims Data

Gard and UK P&I Club claims data, analysed across multiple reporting years, consistently points to the same high-risk activities.

1. Mooring and Unmooring Operations

The single highest-risk activity for hand and finger injuries across all vessel types. Synthetic fibre ropes under load can part without warning — the energy released by a parting mooring line is violent and fast. Wire rope tails are rigid and can penetrate a glove and skin. Winch drums, fairleads, bitts, and capstans all create severe pinch points capable of removing fingers in a fraction of a second.

COSWP is explicit on mooring operations: never take a turn of line around your hand or any part of your body. Never stand in the bight of a rope under load. Never reach across a line that has tension on it. These are absolute prohibitions, not guidelines, and they appear in COSWP because the consequence of ignoring them is invariably serious injury.

P&I clubs identify a consistent factor in mooring incident reports: time pressure. Port turnarounds are timed, pilots are waiting, the Master is watching. The culture around mooring operations often normalises speed over safe practice in ways that do not occur elsewhere on the vessel. If you are being rushed in a way that removes your ability to work safely at the mooring station, you have the right — and the SMS obligation — to say so.

2. Wire Rope and Deck Machinery

NorthStandard guidance specifically highlights “birdcaging” — where wire rope strands spring outward under a sudden change of load — as a mechanism that traps fingers before the crew member can react. Worn, kinked, or damaged wire has unpredictable failure characteristics that even experienced deck crew cannot fully anticipate.

Deck winches and cranes create pinch points that Class and Flag State auditors specifically check for guard compliance. COSWP requires guarding on all machinery with accessible moving parts. If guarding has been removed, damaged, or bypassed on any deck machinery, this is a stop-work condition under your SMS before any operation begins.

3. Engine Room Maintenance

Engineering crew account for a significant proportion of hand injuries during maintenance work. The specific risk factors cited across Gard and UK P&I Club guidance are: rotating machinery not fully isolated before work begins, valve handwheels that shift under residual pressure, and hydraulic systems where pressure has not been fully bled before breaking a connection.

Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) — physically isolating and locking the energy source before any maintenance begins — is the primary control. COSWP's permit-to-work section requires that all energy isolation is verified before maintenance on equipment with moving parts. The most common failure mode in P&I claims is not a missing procedure: it is a procedure that exists but is skipped because the task is considered “quick.” There is no job quick enough to justify a working hand near an unguarded moving part.

4. Hatch Covers and Watertight Doors

Heavy steel hatch covers and watertight doors are a consistent source of crush injuries to fingers in hinges, dogs, and sealing surfaces. The risk increases in rough weather when vessel motion makes timing unpredictable. On hydraulic hatch cover systems, the forces involved make this a potential fatality risk, not merely a finger injury. COSWP requires that fingers are clear of all pivot and sealing points before any hatch or door is operated.