Crush incident after collapse of portable bulkhead on general cargo vessel Neermoor with loss of 1 life

Location: Port of Teignmouth, England.

• From: Marine Accident Investigation Branch
• Published: 23 January 2015

• Vessel type: Merchant vessel 100 gross tons or over
• Report type: Investigation report
• Date of occurrence: 27 April 2006

Accident Investigation Report 31/2006

Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, actions taken and subsequent recommendations:

Neermoor.pdf (2,356.57 kb)

Neermoor - Annexes (900.12 kb)

Summary

Fatal accident due to collapse of a portable bulkhead onboard mv Neermoor at Teignmouth, UK on 27 April 2006.

Safety Issues

• poor design meant that bulkheads had to be lifted to allow thorough cleaning of the hold between each cargo, even if they were not to be moved
• the bulkhead fell because the securing pin safety latches were unable to resist the forces applied to them during the incorrect lifting of the bulkhead; the pins then became disengaged
• critical risk assessments, SMS procedures, instructions and other vital documentation was not on board, and this had not been noticed during inspections or surveys by the master, owner’s superintendents, company internal auditors, classification society auditors/surveyors or PSC inspectors

Recommendations

Recommendations have been made to multiple organisations as a result of this accident investigation.

This report was published in December 2006.

Published 23 January 2015