A recent Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) report revealed that safety management procedures were inadequately implemented when the second engineer of the Spirit of Tasmania I suffered a serious knee injury during engine maintenance. The incident occurred on March 6 while performing a routine oil change on a turbocharger at the Geelong, Victoria, berth. The decision to replace the turbocharger’s bearing housing cover plate necessitated multiple climbs on and off the engine.
During one of these climbs, the engineer fell and sustained a significant injury requiring surgery. The ATSB found that a standard safe access route to the engine was neither defined nor utilized, despite the regular need for such access. The engineer slipped while crossing an opening in the railing, highlighting the lack of proper risk assessment.
The investigation indicated that the Job Safety Analysis (JSA) for the task was not reviewed, nor was a new safety checklist completed, primarily due to perceived time pressures and an underestimation of the risks involved. In response to the accident, TT-Line, the ship’s manager, implemented several safety measures, including a removable work platform for safer access and updated JSAs to address the associated risks.
