TT Talk - Terminal safety is paramount

The risk of injury at the work place should be of highest concern to any entity, but injuries still account for almost a third of insurance claims costs for ports and terminals according to TT Club analyses. Over 90% of these incidents are caused by operational issues, with a further 7% related to maintenance failures and less than 1% caused by natural events.

Perhaps unsurprisingly in the busy 'industrial' port environment, 85% of the cost of major injuries and fatalities are caused by the use of vehicles and heavy equipment. Of this, trucks and cars are involved in an alarming 30% - colliding with each other or fixed objects, overturning or hitting pedestrians. A further 23% of the injuries are caused through the use of lift trucks (reachstackers, forklifts etc), again striking pedestrians directly or through dropping loads onto people, in addition to them overturning. Similar incidents arise in straddle carrier operations, amounting to 13% in the analysis. Cranes (RTGs, RMGs etc) contribute 19%, mainly resulting from loads being dropped onto vehicles or pedestrians. In addition to these equipment related claims, the traditional trips, slips and falls amount to 13% of the value of insurance claims.

“in the busy ‘industrial’ port environment, 85% of the cost of major injuries and fatalities are caused by the use of vehicles and heavy equipment”

The galling truth is that the vast majority of these incidents are caused by human error and most are preventable by changed practices. Aside from the often tragic human consequences, these incidents are resource-intensive as management becomes necessarily involved in the substantial emotional, relational and reputational aspects of safety failings, let alone the potential for litigation and large settlements to the victims or their estates.