Marine Accident Investigation Branch releases report: tug Millgarth

MAIB issues its latest report following a fatal accident in January of this year.

Summary

On 27 January 2019, the chief engineer on board the tug Millgarth, fell into the River Mersey from the north oil stage at the Tranmere Oil Terminal at Birkenhead, England at 17:49. He had released Millgarth’s mooring lines and was attempting to re-board the tug. His lifejacket inflated automatically on entering the water and his crewmates were able to recover him alongside the tug within five minutes. The crew were unable to lift the chief engineer out of the water because he had quickly become incapacitated in the cold water and lost consciousness. He was recovered at 18:11 by the crew of rescue boat Marine Fire Rescue 1; he had suffered cardiac arrest and could not be revived.

Safety issues highlighted in MAIB’s report include

• Accessing the tugs via the oil stage fenders was common practice and was extremely dangerous, particularly in poor weather conditions.
• The lack of safe access to and from tugs had been recognised for at least 14 years and had been raised at safety committee meetings and during company inspections many times prior to this accident.
• The crew had not been fully prepared to deal with the emergency situation and were unfamiliar with the use of the tug’s MOB rescue-sling.

MAIB’s recommendations following this investigation, and further details of the report, are online.