Pier Accidents in the Maritime Industry

Piers, harbors, shipping terminals, and dockyards are dangerous places to work with any number of hazards, including falls, fires, and malfunctioning heavy equipment. Inadequate training, poorly-maintained equipment, carelessness and human error, and missing safety gear are often to blame for accidents in and around piers. If you work in this industry, you have rights and are entitled to compensation if you have been injured on the job. 

Types of Maritime Pier Accidents

Many different types of accidents can occur in this work environment. Working on a pier puts you in harm’s way daily.

Falls

Falling is not uncommon when moving from the dock to the ship and back several times a day, especially when carrying cargo and other materials. Workers may fall from walkways into the water, onto the ship, onto the ground from a crane, a personnel carrier or platform, or a warehouse roof.

The falls themselves can be dangerous. When a worker is carrying cargo, those items can also cause injuries. Falls into the water can also be severe if no one helps immediately.

Cargo Accidents

Loading and unloading cargo is an essential job in the maritime industry. Working on a pier, carrying or using machinery to transport cargo from the dock to ship and back again can present several hazards.

The large cranes used to move cargo, like shipping containers, can malfunction due to human error or poor maintenance and cause heavy loads to drop, sometimes on workers.

The swinging parts of a crane may strike a worker, and cranes that carry personnel to and from large ships may plunge them into the water or on land and cause serious injuries and fatalities.

On-Pier Accidents

Injuries on the pier itself are also not uncommon. Piers in crowded shipyards are hectic places. Cargo, equipment, people, and even vehicles clutter the pier, making trip hazards common. A trip and fall into the water can be particularly dangerous.

Vehicles, including trucks and forklifts that move up and down piers, can also cause accidents when a driver isn’t paying attention or a worker thinks he has enough time to run in front of a moving vehicle. It is not uncommon for pier workers to be struck by cranes, forklifts, and trucks.

Another way workers can be injured on piers is when ships collide with them. Vessels running into piers and docks cause significant damage and can harm or kill anyone in the vicinity.

Causes of Pier Accidents

Many accidents on piers and in ports, from fires and crane accidents to trips, falls, and vehicle collisions, are preventable. Negligence is a common cause of pier accidents.

Inadequate Maintenance

Not maintaining equipment or making appropriate repairs causes machinery to malfunction, leading to serious accidents. For instance, a faulty crane may drop cargo or lose parts on any workers below. Electrical equipment that is not adequately maintained or grounded can start fires.

Lack of Worker Training

Personnel training is another critical issue in preventable accidents. If workers are not adequately trained to do their jobs, they can make mistakes that lead to accidents, injuries, or even deaths.

Untrained workers pose risks to themselves and other well-trained workers around them—one mistake made in procedures or when operating equipment can have rippling effects.

Inadequate Safety Training and Equipment

Safety training is as essential as job training. Accidents result when workers don’t understand how to use equipment safely. Also important is having access to safety equipment that is in working order so that well-trained workers can respond to accidents quickly and effectively.

Trip Hazards

Trip hazards are common causes of accidents on crowded piers. Workers who trip and fall may be hurt from landing on something sharp or hard or fall into the water and drown if they are not rescued.

A crowded space may be necessary in this kind of working environment, but precautions should be taken to keep cargo and equipment in order on a pier.

This minimizes and prevents many tripping accidents. Workers also need to be trained in the dangers of tripping and falling and encouraged to be alert at all times on the job.

Mooring lines can also pose tripping hazards or may snap back and hurt workers or knock them into the water.

Examples of Pier and Shore Accidents

In the shipping industry, there are too many stories of people being injured or even killed in accidents on piers, harbors, and docks.

Crane Accident in South Carolina

One such example, which could have been more tragic, occurred in 2013 when a worker in a truck suffered back and neck injuries. A cargo shipping container dropped from a crane at the South Carolina port and landed on the truck where the worker was sitting.

If he had not been in the truck, the accident would likely have been fatal, as the container would have easily crushed him. Whatever caused the container to drop, equipment malfunction, or operator error was probably preventable.

Truck Accident in Los Angeles

Another tragic pier accident occurred in the Port of Los Angeles when a truck driver drove off the pier and into the water. He could not get free from the truck and drowned in the water.

His body was later recovered, and no one could determine the cause of the accident or what led him to lose control and end up in the water.

What was known was that safety equipment in the area was lacking. There was no railing at the location where he drove into the water. A simple safety railing might have prevented this tragic pier incident by providing a barrier to falls.

Examples of accidents on piers are all too common. There are many more news stories like these, some of which end in severe injuries and others in fatalities.

What is consistent across these stories is that most of them could have been prevented with better training, equipment, maintenance, judgment, and care.

Simply being more careful in this dangerous work environment can make all the difference and change the future of a maritime worker.

Workers’ Rights After Pier Accidents

As a worker in the maritime industry, you have a dangerous job that is full of daily hazards. You also have federal maritime laws to protect you and ensure you get compensation in the event of injuries suffered on the job.

For a pier worker, the Longshore and Harbor Worker’s Compensation Act is the law that is most likely to cover injuries and accidents. This federal workers’ compensation law includes harbor and pier workers who do not qualify as seamen under the Jones Act.

You can also rest assured that the loved ones who depend on you also have the right to compensation if a workplace accident kills you.

If you work in a pier environment at a port, terminal, or shipyard and have been the victim of an accident while on the job, you have a right to compensation.

Your employer may refuse compensation, but the law is on your side. It isn’t always easy to navigate, though. To figure out which law applies to your situation and how to file a claim to get the money you deserve, rely on the experience of a professional maritime attorney to guide you through the process.