Its time we made safety a priority

Workplace fatalities, in almost all cases, are avoidable. In most industries and job sectors, deaths resulting from attendance at work are simply not tolerated. Whether through public outrage or governmental oversight, groundswells take hold, best practices are discussed, and regulations are adopted. Through this process the value of human life is reaffirmed within industry.

Unfortunately, within the cargo container handling industry, that sadly has not been the case. However, it is becoming a priority for some of the major terminal operators.

As a part of their daily routine, people die going to work in our industry – last year the death toll was believed to be 17; ‘believed to be’ because there is a lack of accurate data available. As many of us in the industry know, these people die not because of some unforeseen external force, but rather because the environment in which they work is chaotic and filled with machines unpredictably moving 40 ton containers as quickly as possible, all in a ‘routinely random’ flow.

The more progressive global operators have implemented programs to reduce accidents and Lost Time Due to Injury. Some (seven, exactly) have even created fully automated facilities that mimic a robotic assembly line or factory and allow no people, even accidentally, to be placed in harm’s way.

Slow progress

By and large though, since the creation of this industry just over 50 years ago, very little seems to have changed aside from the ever-increasing scale and size of container ships and terminal operations around the world. Some facilities unfortunately still see accidents and even a high fatality rate as ‘part of the job’ and make little effort to implement even low cost safety systems to save the lives of their workers.

At the Port Equipment Manufacturers Association (PEMA) meeting this year, the point was raised that fatalities often result from a routine list of tasks carried out by humans within a container yard or within the operational areas where cargo enters and exits a facility (e.g. a truck gate, a container ship being unloaded, rail head and etc.).

According to the PEMA working group, the manual tasks outlined below are most often associated with high injury or fatality rates:

• Physically moving containers from one place to another (e.g. crane unloading from a ship, truck transferring a container into the yard, etc.)
• Manually identifying containers and their key loading specifications in dangerous areas (under the crane, in gate lanes, and etc) in order to capture:
• A container’s unit initial and number (its ID)
• Any Hazardous content labels
• Its listed loading/weight limitations
• Recording the number of the security seal attached to the rear door of a loaded container

• Removing “twist-lock” or stacking cone devices allowing two containers to securing be combined together in a secure, stacked configuration (namely on a ship or train)
• Associating a recorded container to a tractor at key “handoff” points in the facility
• Recording any observed damage that may deem the container unsafe for handling

After a simple inquiry of PEMA members to determine just how many of the above processes and tasks could be made safer or altogether automated by implementing proven technology and process change, the answer was nearly all. Removing key personnel from dangerous areas may involve one or more solutions. All this depends on what exactly the workers do and what individual tasks they are responsible for within the operation.

Pack leaders

A non-scientific tally of terminal operators and safety and automation suppliers indicates that the vast majority of employers making safety a priority are either Asian or European (although three new US facilities in New Jersey and LA/Long Beach are planning to start automated operations in 2014). Not surprisingly, the vast majority of suppliers delivering these enabling solutions outlined above are also headquartered in Europe.

Head and shoulders above the crowd are global terminal operators such as APM Terminals and DP World who both have confirmed human safety initiatives to eliminate fatalities through a combination of technology and process reengineering to relocate personnel from dangerous locations.

The facts are clear: people are being needlessly injured or killed within both marine and rail terminal operations. Technologies have evolved that can reliably remove people from harm’s way without negatively impacting operations.

The larger marine terminal operators have seen the writing on the wall in terms of human life and are acting to protect their valuable staff. Others should make a start by examining safety records and then removing individuals from the most dangerous areas of the terminal – under the crane, at the rail head and at the gate.

Even one fatality is too many.

Allen Thomas is chief operating officer of APS Technology Group and technology committee chairman of the Port Equipment Manufacturers Association. He has over 15 years of experience in IT and process automation systems and is an industry thought leader on the application of automated gate systems, OCR, RFID, and GPS location systems for shipping lines, marine terminal operators and railroads worldwide including Maersk-Sealand, Mitsui O.S.K., DP World, HHLA, APM Terminals, Ports America, and Norfolk Southern Railroad. For more information go to www.aps-technology.com.