Admiralty Lawyer

A crewman injured on a merchant vessel was rescued by two Royal Navy Sea King helicopters in severe weather from a 14,000 ton cargo vessel.

The ship was roughly 200 miles from the Isle of Scilly when the man was rescued. His injury was a complex fracture to the thigh. While ordinary fractures can be dealt with easily, complex fractures are more difficult s they are open wounds where infection can easily occur.

The 48-year old crewman was injured when he fell through a vent shaft in the ship’s engine room. After receiving medical treatment on the ship, he was lifted onto one of the helicopters and taken to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro.

The first helicopter, which had a doctor on board, had to refuel in the Scillies and wait until the ship came into range.

The rescue was particularly difficult due to the severe weather that was in the area at the time.

If you have been injurd on board a cargo ship, contact the admiralty lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.

A cargo ship in the Dover Strait had to execute what ended up being a 360 degree turn to avoid hitting an Italian cruise liner with 1,700 people on board.

According to the crew on the cargo ship, the bridge crew on the cruise liner was slow to recognize the impending danger or possible collision. They apparently made little effort to attempt to avoid the cargo ship. 

The accident occurred when the cruise ship was attempting to cross the strait. The cruise ship attempted to cross based on radar that is known to be marginally unreliable to most. The cruise ship did not realize this at the time of the accident. The movement of the cruise ship did not reveal to other ships the intention of the ship. 

The near accident took place in May of 2008. The report has just been released by the British Maritime Accident Investigation Board. 

If you have been injured in an accident at sea, contact the admiralty lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your situation and to determine any available legal options.

Florida Transportation Services, a Port Everglades company, has been cited for the deaths of three people earlier in the year.

Three employees of Florida Transportation Services died when they inhaled argon gas that was leaking from a storage container on one of the ships.

Argon is a colorless, odorless gas that is not poisonous but can displace oxygen in a confined space. The autopsies of the three employees showed that they died from suffocation.

 OSHA cited the company for five alleged violations, including a failure to train workers to detect the release of gasses like argon properly. These violations have a fine of $88,200 attached to them. The owner of the company is protesting the citation.

If you have been injured on a ship, contact the admiralty lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.

While the shipping industry has welcomed the increased military presence in the waters around Somalia, concerns are so great that the companies are considering hiring private security forces to escort ships through the region.

While shipping companies are behind the move to put private security forces on board their ships, there are questions raised by other groups who are concerned about the general safety of individuals. Needless to say, having armed guards to fight piracy on board ships remains a controversial issue.

Earlier in October, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling for states to deploy naval vessels and military aircraft to the area to fight th out-of-control privacy off of Somalia.

A number of NATO members answered the call and dispatched frigates and destroyers to the region. This was part of a special anti-piracy task force focused on escorting World Food Program ships that deliver aid in the form of food to Somalia.

The NATO groups join allied naval vessels from the Combined Task Force 150. This group is based in Djibouti and recently created a maritime security patrol area in the Gulf of Aden. The patrol is designed to provide a safe shipping lane for the 200 vessels that go through the area on a daily basis.

If you have been injured on a ship, contact the admiralty lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.

A shipyard and ship repair facility located in New London is now facing $108,000 in proposed OSHA fines after having been cited for 43 serious violations of safety and health standards. 

The citations and fines come from an OSHA program that targets workplaces that have higher than average injury and illness rates. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from the hazards found about which the employer knew or should have known.

 OSHA named some specific instances that were particularly hazardous. They include inadequate personal protective equipment; ungrounded, exposed, damaged, or misused electrical cords or quipment; no electric safety-related work practices program; and lack of safety training for the company’s electrician. There were also a variety of unguarded saws, grinders, and milling machines. There was not a radius indicator on the crane’s boom either.

Another problem was the lack of hearing protection prgram in place. 

If you have been injured in a shipyard due to the irresponsible actions of your employer, contact the admiralty lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 1-866-950-9000 to discuss your case and to determine your legal options.