22.03.2012

Marine access ‘bodge’

A reader from Australia has sent us some photos he took back in 2010 at Austal Ships in Henderson, Western Australia, while they were working on the St Jean De La Vallette, the catamaran that now runs between Sicily and Malta

Apparently attention was required to the underside of the boats loading platform so they nosed a small boat up against the larger one, left it in gear - can see from boat wash - and then used a ladder, a fairly rickety one at that, to reach where they needed to.
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The big cat with the little ladder boat

It would hardly take much to dislodge the man and the ladder, stupidly there were at least two 45ft boom lifts lined up on the dock from where the photo was taken.
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A closer look shows the man at work

As our correspondent says “If a small wave was to come through from another boat, he could of come unstable and fallen in the water near the propeller which is in gear. Australian standards are fairly high and at times quite ridiculous, but it shows that even at big companies, they are still willing to take shortcuts or do things the cheaper and less safe way.”

Yes definitely a Death Wish