A crew member was assigned to perform chipping on deck near the cargo manifolds crossover area. While chipping, a particle of rust passed through a gap near the nose in his goggles and into the eye. The Nautical Institute describes this incident and the lessons to be learned from it in a new Mars Report.
The Nautical Institute gathers reports of maritime accidents and near-misses. It then publishes these so-called Mars (Mariners’ Alerting and Reporting Scheme) Reports (anonymously) to prevent other accidents from happening. This is one of these reports.
After the rust got in the crew member’s eye, he did not go directly to flush the eye, hoping that the particle would come out by itself.
After work the crew member noticed that the particle was still inside his eye and tried to flush it with water. This did not work, so he reported the incident and received on-board medical attention. Following the incident, an ad-hoc meeting was carried out on board highlighting the importance of proper tightness and fit of safety goggles.
Also read: Chemical hazards on ships need PPE
Advice from The Nautical Institute
- Any incident involving an eye should be immediately reported and attended to.
- As a general good practice, always check your PPE before each use.
- When wearing safety goggles for chipping, there should be absolutely no gap between the skin and the glasses.
Also read: Chemical burn on ship due to inadequate PPE
Mars Reports
This accident was covered in the Mars Reports, originally published as Mars 202621. A selection of the Mars Reports are also published in the SWZ|Maritime magazine. The Nautical Institute compiles these reports to help prevent maritime accidents. That is why they are also published (in full) on SWZ|Maritime’s website.
More reports are needed to keep the scheme interesting and informative. All reports are read only by the Mars coordinator and are treated in the strictest confidence. To submit a report, please use the Mars report form.
Picture by The Nautical Institute.
Also read: ‘Wear eye protection on board ships for all tasks’
