The Sand Heron is currently in drydock at the A&P Tees ship repair facility in Middlesbrough, undergoing a major refit and the 25 year special survey for Lloyds Register.

Late last week when Matt Bland, the Sand Heron’s Master, was checking on the progress of these repairs, he noticed one of the shipyard employees working in a precarious position on the hopper coaming and putting himself in an extremely dangerous situation – nearly 10m above the empty hopper with no handrails and the worker was not wearing a safety harness.  Matt immediately STEPPED IN and detailed one of his officers to move the worker away from this hazardous situation; this could well have saved his life.

The follow up action by the shipyard is also commendable in removing the individual from site.  It is good to be working in a shipyard that adopts the same safety ethos as CEMEX.

Here is an extract from the response by Aaron Burbridge, the shipyard’s Project Manager:  “The individual in question has been immediately removed from site and his colleagues on site briefed to re-emphasise the dangers and procedures in place for working at height and the consequences of not adhering to them.”

Well done to Matt for his quick actions, it should also serve as a lesson to all that we need to look after each other so that we can all go back home safely to our families at the end of the working day.