Question 1

Echoing the Pelican of London findings, the Master is reviewing the vessel's drugs and alcohol policy and notices it sets clear limits for duty hours but says nothing about the condition crew should be in when returning on board after recreational time ashore. What should the Master do?

Accepted Answer

Update the policy to explicitly address the condition of crew returning from shore leave, given that gangway/access tasks carry a real fall risk that impairment can worsen, as demonstrated in a real fatal MAIB-reported case The gap identified in the real case wasn't about duty hours — it was specifically that the policy was silent on returning-from-shore condition, which left a foreseeable risk (impaired boarding/disembarking) outside the policy's scope. Closing this gap proactively is exactly the lesson MAIB's investigation was intended to spread industry-wide.

Question 2

In a documented gangway rigging fatality, what procedural gap was identified regarding how the rigging task was normally carried out by the crew?

Accepted Answer

The rigging of the handrail was understood by the crew to be a two-person evolution, but on the day the bosun proceeded with the task essentially alone after sending the deckhand away for life vests An informally understood 'two-person job' is not the same as a documented, enforced procedure — when the second person was sent away mid-task, there was no formal trigger requiring the work to pause until they returned, which connects directly to the lone-working and procedural-documentation gaps covered elsewhere in this module.

Question 3

According to MAIB Safety Digest reporting on pilot ladder deficiencies, what is a 'choke shackle' arrangement, and why is it dangerous?

Accepted Answer

A shackle secured over the ladder's side ropes rather than properly through the designed attachment point, which brings the entire weight of the ladder onto a single step that is not designed to bear that load One of the most common pilot ladder deficiencies identified by MAIB — it looks like a minor rigging shortcut, but it concentrates load on a structural element (a single step) never designed to carry the ladder's full weight, creating a failure point exactly where a pilot or crew member would be standing.