Seatruck Pace — The Rope Barrier
Seatruck Pace
Ro-ro freight ferry · Brocklebank Dock, Liverpool, England · 17 December 2018
Source: MAIB Report 9/2019
The Situation
You're a deck rating aboard a ro-ro freight ferry alongside at Brocklebank Dock, Liverpool. There's a touch-up paint job needed on the forward edge of a hatch cover, right next to an open ramp hatch with a 4.5-metre drop below. The bosun's morning briefing is just starting.
The Lesson
A safety culture where procedures are followed as routine compliance, rather than genuine conviction, offers no real protection. A rope across a gap is a signal that a hazard exists, not a barrier that stops anyone crossing it.
Human Element
Crossing the rope barrier into the fall-hazard zone had already been normalised days earlier by other crew doing the same job without consequence — a safety culture where following procedure was routine compliance rather than genuine conviction gave no real protection when it mattered.
Try the First Decision
You could go straight to the paint job to save time, or go to the briefing first and get the task properly allocated with the right equipment.
This is a preview — the full scenario branches from here based on what you choose, with real consequences and a debrief at the end.
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