A recent incident involving the lifting operation of a heavy dredge pump component on one of Marine’s dredging vessels, resulted in an attending contractor suffering fractured ribs when manoeuvring the dredge pump suction cover 1.5m in diameter, weighing 1.5 tonnes, into position in the confined space of the pump unit.

One of the actions to come out of the incident resulted in the design, manufacture and use of preventer studs to the pump, to allow initial alignment of the suction cover without having contractors in close to the load.

The incident, lessons learnt and the preventative measures, in particular the manufactured preventer studs to ensure a much safer operation, were communicated to the original manufacturer of the equipment IHC Services.

Dirk-Jan Goudswaard, E-Business Manager for IHC Services, responded: “In follow-up of your input about the suction cover issue we have added a safety warning in our pump manuals and in case of larger dredge pumps we include ‘mounting studs’ for free because these diameters are often not  immediately available.”

It is great to note that our experiences and the lessons learnt will extend far beyond CEMEX Marine and will benefit the global dredging industry.