INDIAN MARITIME UNIVERSITY,

KOLKATA CAMPUS

TECHNICAL PAPER PRESENTATION

ON

MODERN IDEAS FOR PILOT

TRANSFER ARRANGEMENT

NAME: NISHANT PRATAP

REG NO: 1801608121

SEMESTER – 7TH
DATE: 13th NOVEMBER 2021

TECHNICAL PAPER PRESENTATION

MODERN IDEAS FOR PILOT

TRANSFER ARRANGEMENT

ABSTRACT:
Many articles suggest that the pilot transfer system has not changed over many years, with the
pilot continuing to rely on a rope and timber ladder, with no mechanical assistance or protection
which makes pilot life in danger and also affect company stake. We can eliminate most of the
risk factors by using fall protection system and equipments. And also making ladder design
more reliable. Here I have mentioned various innovation and ideas that can be implemented in
marine industry

Introduction :

Pilots come aboard ship to assist the crew during the most critical and potentially hazardous
phases of a voyage. Qualified pilots possess particular local knowledge and have the necessary
ship-handling skills to assist the safe arrival and departure of vessels. Normally, pilots board
and disembark using a traditional rope ladder from and to a pilot boat. However, this can be a
very dangerous procedure if those involved do not adhere to International Maritime
Organization (IMO) standards or fail to practise acceptable seamanship skills. A number of
pilots have died as a result of accidents while boarding/disembarking from ships, and many
more have been seriously injured. Furthermore, deficiencies with regard to boarding
arrangements and unsafe rigging of pilot ladders continue to be detected during port state
control inspections, resulting in delays and financial penalties for the ship operator.
Nevertheless, pilot ladders remain the most safe and efficient way to board ships at sea and

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there is usually no alternative, except on occasions when a helicopter is used .The pilot’s task
of transferring between vessels at sea using the pilot ladder has long been recognised as
hazardous.1 This has resulted in marine pilot fatalities and serious and disabling medical
conditions from body stressing, being hit, and falls.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY :

The study is an empirical study based on the survey method and the data is collected with the
help of questionnaire. The study is Descriptive research where the data is collected by non-
random sampling method.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES :

1. The risks involved in Pilot Transfer Arrangement

2. The measures to mitigate hazards and risks as identified
3. Innovative idea to mitigate risks as well as to Transfer

1. INJURIES FROM PILOT LADDER TRANSFERS :

1. Falls from a height

2. Drowning (after being unconscious from head injuries)
3. Crush injuries
4. Struck by cutter after fall from a height; and/or
5. A combination of these mechanisms

1.1 The most common mechanisms of injury during the pilot transfer process are :

1. Body stressing from being jarred or being twisted by a sudden movement of the ladder
or accommodation system, or from the cumulative effects of repeated reaching and
grasping etc - resulting in various sprains and strains and overuse diseases

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 2. Being hit or hitting a moving object such as being struck by the pilot boat when on the
ladder - resulting in crush and strike injuries
3. Slips and falls from ladders resulting in orthopedic and soft tissue injuries.

1.2 RISK FACTORS FOR BODY STRESSING 2 :

Physical Risk Factors Individual Risk Factors

Task factors:
Increasing age
- Repetition
Pre-existing musculoskeletal disorders
- Weights and forces
Lack of skills and experience
- Posture

- Vibration

Work environment issues

Work equipment issues

1.3 Body stressing in pilot ladder transfers :

With ladder transfers some of the evident physical risk factors include working and moving in
awkward postures (eg with the neck bent, shoulders elevated, wrists deviated, back bent etc);
the use of force (to pull and grasp); repetition; and a combination of these factors.

Pilot accident reports analysed in a previous study (Weigall & Simpson 2005) showed a high
rate of musculoskeletal disorders from body stressing. The injuries were considered consistent

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with jarring, twisting, landing heavily onto surfaces and from the cumulative effects of force
and body stress. Musculoskeletal assessments confirmed disorders in the pilots’ elbows,
shoulders, wrists necks and backs. Knees were also a common site of injury.

Informal discussions with other pilots who were not part of the above study and others in pilot
organisations confirm that sprains and strains and other musculoskeletal disorders from body
stressing are the most common injuries and diseases resulting from the pilot ladder transfer
task.

1.4 Being hit in pilot ladder transfers

The pilot’s work environment poses extreme risks for being hit as there are no fixed or
stationary areas, with the 2 vessels both moving independently. The ladders are also moving
independently and tend to swing out and fall back against the side of the hull as they are not
fastened to the side of the vessel. The size and speed of the movements are also relevant with
a high risk of being struck by force and by hard objects.

Data from the study in Sydney (Weigall & Simpson 2005) provides the following examples of
when “being hit” was the primary mechanism of injury:

• Crushed between ladder and cutter when the ladder became caught in the cutter

• Foot jammed between cutter and ship

• Arm struck by ladder

2. RISK FACTORS FOR LADDER FALLS :

2.1 The major predictors of ladder fall accidents as:

1. Transitioning onto or from ladder

2. Having to over-reach
3. Being thrown from the ladder

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4. Slippery steps
5. Miss-stepping Fig1:- www.google.com/images

FALLS DURING PILOT LADDER TRANSFERS :

Pilot ladder transfers require working at heights, often at a minimum heights of 2 -3 metres.
Maximum elevations are estimated at approximately 15 metres from the cutter deck and 17
metres from the water. Many of the scenarios listed under ‘risks’ are applicable to many pilot
transfer situations. The risks associated with transitioning (eg between the cutter and pilot
ladder, and pilot ladder and accommodation ladder) and being required to over-reach to ropes
etc are considered to pose major risks in this task.

Past fatalities from falls onto the cutter decks and into water confirm the risks of this injury
mechanism.

3. PILOT LADDER DEFICIENCY :

1. From 1st January 2015 to 1st June 2017, 0.12% of Pilot Acts have seen a ladder
deficiency report submitted to the Harbour

2. A total of 36 Pilot Ladder deficiencies have been reported within that time.
3. 2016 saw 3x as many defect reports than 2015 and the trend so far for 2017 is indicating
a further increase.
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What are the common deficiencies?

1. The graph above shows the different types of deficiencies which have been reported. Note
that some reports contain multiple deficiencies, creating a total of 53.
2. The most common deficiencies involve combination ladder arrangements (26%), ladders
incorrectly rigged to the deck (21%), followed by step defects (17%).
3. One of the rope defect includes the ladder parting whilst the Pilot Boat was alongside the
ladder.
4. Of the 36 deficiency reports (with the exception of the rope breakage), all pilots used the
ladder.

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What are the offending vessels?

• The most common vessel type on which defects

are reported is Containerships. The types of defect
vary greatly, however the most common are deck
fixings and incorrectly rigged combination ladder
arrangem
• Ho wever, this vessel type is likely to be where the
majority of ladders, particularly combination
la dders, are
• The fairly high percentage for tankers is surprising,
as their on board safety culture is usually more
robust compared to most

*IMPA Safety Campaign Data

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IMPA Safety Campaign 2016

• The IMPA undergo frequent safety campaigns on Pilot Ladders. Their 2016 findings are
broadly similar to ours apart from the number of Containership defects.

• The IMPA report also separates ladder defects from combination defects, defects at the
bulwark/deck and safety equipment. (Given the comparatively less data that we have,
using their structure may not yield the best results.)

• Overall, the top 6 defects in the IMPA report are:

1. No lifebuoy (106), 2. Steps not horizontal (75), 3. Ladder not secured (72),
4. No attending officer (72), 5. Other (65), 6. Not against the hull (62)
• There is a smaller proportion of defect reports in the Port of London for lifebuoys and
attending officers compared to the IMPA report.3

3.1 PILOT LADDER HAZARDS

These are the potential risks involved while using the Pilot ladder.

1. Worn of pilot ladder rope

2. Pilot ladder platform had not been properly hooked into place
3. Failure of inflatable life jacket ladder
4. Inevitably the securing of the ladder
5. Rough weather makes its use very unsafe
6. The horizontal cross member to which the pilot ladder is secured is a distraction from
using the side ropes when transitioning onto the pilot ladder when disembarking.

7. The ‘sloping ladder’ is not securely attached to the hull.

8. In case of freeboard is more than 9m it is mandatory to use accommodation ladder;
and the transition consists risk.
9. Some time it is very difficult to check the part which is inside the thimble or, in any
hidden arrangement; which consists partning of rope hazard

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 SOME INNOVATIVES AND IDEAS TO MITIGATE
RISKS INVOLVE IN PILOT LADDER TRANSFER

1. Ideas to prevent from fall

1.1 Fall Arrest mechanism
Currently every industry are practising fall prevention mechanisms while working
on height.We are not using these methods to prevent pilot from falling.

Figure 1: Fall arrest system

Source: atsb research and analysis report

In the above fig 1: shows fall arrest system where the person is climbing via rope with an
backup arrangement where a rope grab is fastened with safety line attached with safety suit
Similar arrangement can be introduced in marine pilot ladder.

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 Figure 2: Fall arrest with locking device

1.2 Fall arrest system with Derrick Crane

This system consist of a derrick crane with one direction rectractable pulley which can be
control by crew on board. From pulley one safety line will be passed to pilot present on pilot
boarding ship .Pilot will have to attached this safety line to his safety harness then he will be
allow to climb up pilot ladder.As pilot will climb upwards the safety line will be controlled
by crew present on board to make sure that he doesn’t fall below the height he has climbed
up.

Figure 3: fall arrest system with pulley

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 2. INNOVATION IN PILOT LADDER
As we know pilot transfer is very risky and also life threatening in rough sea
conditions and most of the accidents happen during this event. Due to rolling
pitching of ship and pilot boarding ship it becomes very difficult to grab the ladder
while the ladder is swinging to and fro.

Figure 1: Pilot Ladder with Electromagnetic System

So to overcome this problem we have introduced new method to firmly attached the pilot
ladder to ship’s hull,to make ladder more stable and firm even in rough sea So that pilot can
successfully embark.

In this mechanism we have used electromagnet which is joined with hard wood rungs.After
rigging pilot ladder, we will activate the electromagnet which will stick to ship’s hull making
ladder very stable.

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 CONCLUSION

Ships of today require safe and reliable pilot ladder system so that embarkation of crew and
other
Pilot can be go smoothly, apart from that today most of the ship accidents occur by failure of
pilot ladder arrangement Especially during rolling and pitching of ship, so here are some
technical and research ideas that can prevent major accidents by the pilot ladder embarkment.

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 References:

• A trend analysis of Pilot Ladder Deficiency

reports in the Port of London
• ATSB RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS REPORT
• Marine Safety Research Grant – 200667474
• Chirp maritime- reports

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express our special thanks and gratitude to our subject teacher

Mr. Arun Kumar Singh sir who gave me the opportunity and fruitful guidance to do this
presentation on the topic “MODERN INNOVATION AND IDEAS FOR PILOT
TRANSFER SYSYTEM”
By doing this presentation we got enriched with much information which can help me in
future.

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