This week, Maersk has issued guidance notes on the correct use and layout of trapdoor pilot ladder arrangements. Hopefully all non compliant and dangerous arrangements of this kind will be replaced soon. A great amount of effort in achieving this has been done by various maritime pilots around the world. […]
News
Stepping up for pilot safety
source: Maritimejournal.com Pilot ladders are such a risk “that one pilot referred to climbing them as a ‘leap of faith’,” Madelaine Dowd of Helm Innovation told MJ. Incidents have caused “broken ankles, hips, backs, head injuries, near drownings – and fatalities,” added Don Cockrill, former UK Maritime Pilots Association lead. […]
Pilot Ladder on Ships- Correct rigging procedure 2020
Recently, Capt. Vijay Sharma published a very nice tutorial on the correct rigging of a pilot ladder on Youtube: The link to this video can also be found on te “reference” page of this website.
From Regulations and Guidelines to “Safety as a Total System”
Recently, Captain Karanjikar invited me to write an article for the AIMPA-magazine. It should cover pilot ladder safety legislation, from a “holistic” point of view. Since the start of the website pilotladdersafety.com spring 2020, I have been in contact with a lot of maritime pilots and professionals from all over […]
Investigation report: Near fatal accident due to missing handhold stanchions
On December 17th, the German BSU (Bundesstelle für Seeunfalluntersuchung) published a report on the near fatal accident of a Kiel Canal helmsman, while boarding the Dutch flagged vessel MARFAAM. The reports finds that the pilot ladders’s handholds ( stanchions) onboard of the MARFAAM were inadequate, and could only be reached […]
IMPA Safety Campaign Analysis 2016-2020
The IMPA safety campaign on pilot ladders has run for a long time now. In this document the results of the IMPA safety campaign have been analyzed from 2016 to 2020. This analysis shows a growing involvement of maritime pilots in the area of safety of pilot ladders, with the […]
IMPA publishes results of 2020 Pilot Ladder Safety Campaign
This week, IMPA reported the results of the 2020 Pilot Ladder Safety campaign, held in October of this year. A record number of 6394 observations have been received during this years campaign, mainly as a result of a significant increase of response from pilots in South America. During this campaign, […]
Marking and Certification of pilot ladders
A high quality pilot ladder starts its life at a high quality manufacturer. Evidence of the authenticity of the ladder, as well as the standards it is manufactured to, can be found on the ladder itself, as well as on the documentation that comes with it. All documents must be […]
New Hardcopy of Pilotladdersafety.com is now available
The third edition of this website is now available on hardcopy. Various chapters haven been edited, and a new section has been added on the subject of Inspection and Maintenance. Click here to download the latest copy of this document.
Call for action : Online survey: Securing methods of pilot ladders at intermediate length: an inventory
As you are probably aware, there is no legislation about the way a pilot ladder should be secured on deck at intermediate length. As a result, we as pilots see many different ways of securing in use every day. Some ways are considered safe, some unsafe. Recently Capt. Troy Evans […]