Posted By kajsteffensen Good afternoon all, I was looking for some advice regarding Working at Height and wondered if anyone can help? It is well documented that the Port & Dockyard industry is notoriously dangerous due to the operations that are undertaken, and risk of injury is high if the hazards are not appropriately managed. I am currently in the process of changing working procedures at my place of employment and one has caused me some concern. As part of our Forestry Products operation, we handle large volumes of news print paper reels. Normally these reels would either arrive via containers by road or by conventional Ro-Ro vessels (roll on & roll off). However occasionally the reels will arrive as conventional breakbulk cargo within the hold of a vessel. For those of you who are unfamiliar with such terminology, imagine a ships cargo hold with paper reels stacked end to end from the bottom of the hatch to the top. As these reels are circular there is a gap between each stow of four which falls the entire depth of the hold, up to approximately 80 feet!! (imagine four toilet tubes grouped together side by side.......You get the idea. Unfortunately the discharge of such cargo is only possible via placing an expanding probe into the reel's core which enables it to be lifted once the prob is activated, however human intervention is required to guide the probe into the reel core, thus meaning that the operative has to stand in the vicinity of the drop between the paper reels. Are you following so far? The main problem I have is preventing the operative from falling between the stacked reels. The operative is required to the operation as it is imperative that the probe is guided and activated once in position. Most of you I'm guessing are thinking either harness or safety nets, however due to the way the reels are tightly stowed within the hold, nets cannot be used, likewise due to the overhead lifting equipment that is in operation a safety harness cannot be attached over the hatch opening via a guide wire, and unfortunately the internal structure of the hold itself is smooth steel from top to bottom (imagine the inside of a box) so there is nothing inside of the hatch to connect a harness to either. As you can see, this is not an easy one to clarify. I have amended the risk assessment and provided the area supervisors with a relevant Tool Box Talk to ensure a safe system of work is agreed and maintained before and during the operation, however I must prevent the fall should one occur. We currently have walking boards in operation however these need to be constantly moved while discharge is in progress and it is not a permanent measure to prevent a fall. If you guys out there can offer any guidance I would be grateful for a response Best regards, Kai

Posted By Ron Hunter Agreed Colin, and CCTV if there are issues with visibility, sight-lines etc. Camera could be mounted on the lifting gear.

Posted By Colin Reeves Ahh, much clearer now. Not an easy one to get round as the crane is ship's equipment - presumably foreign flag? Also walking boards I can see are difficult, have used 8x4 plywood which gives greater area, but with a grid that, I presume, requires getting inside to line up the inner cores, large boards would not work either. Thinking cap back on! Colin

Posted By Colin Reeves Now moving beyond my own knowledge sphere which is primarily ro-ro. However, I would suggest contacting the industry body who may be able to advise: http://www.portskillsandsafety.co.uk/ Colin

Posted By Hossam what about a harness attached to a fall retractable wheel(with long enough wire) and attached in turn to the lifting gear itself

Posted By david What about a portable harness point that slides into a reels core with a collar to stop it falling through so the stevedore can clip in, we use similar portable harness point that can attach to a containers twistlock casting when we need to work on containers as the reels are probably more than one ton each it is a sufficient anchor just an idea