Safety: Preventing minor injuries. Confessions.

An accident waiting to happen is many people getting into their dinghies/tenders. We have a practice that we tie both it's bow and stern to our platform before boarding it. Delay of a few seconds but no risk of it then swinging away as you step onto it.

Just want to thank the OP here and anyone who contributes to the thread.

As a newbie to boating all the advice given is much appreciated!

My first day out yesterday, with an experienced captain of over 30 years, I can still hear his advice that echoed the sentiment here......"NEVER allow a passenger to jump from the boat to the dock to help tie off the boat or otherwise disembark. If the boat is too far to just step off, it's the captain's RESPONSIBILITY to bring it close enough so they CAN step safely off the vessel."

He also said he could tell many many stories of folks he had seen fall into the water, some actually seriously injured, not just "wet", as a result of their eagerness to get off the boat and help. (or just get off the boat.) He gives a safety lecture with direction to each passenger both before coming on board, once on board, and as they approach the marina. He says it's not overkill, it's kill prevention.

We have a card with various information for newcomers and one of the major items is to stay seated or where you are when docking and not to try to help. That if the captain wants you to do anything they will tell you. Also don't move around at that point as you'll block the captain's vision. We advise that our equivalent of the seat belt sign on the plane being turned off is when the boat if completely tied at the dock. Fortunately most of our friends know and they make sure newcomers don't get into trouble.

One of my pet peeves too Belle. During the Palm Beach Show, I nearly performed a perfect face plant walking up these three simple steps. Why? The 3rd step (main aft deck level) is approx. 3" to 4" higher then the first two steps. Isn't there some rule - somewhere - about steps being equally proportionate in height???

Why?

Why is there always a brass catch or screw sticking-out when you go into or especially when reversing out of a crawl-space or cupboard you have to get into.

SMACK! Right in the back of the head.

OUFF! Knee-capped by a brass clip.

Sick of getting beaten-up by furniture.


Oh, I hardly ever wear shoes on a boat, it's never been a problem, even on little racing yachts.

Great topic, unfortunately

Broken bones:

(1) Broke 2 toes on a deck cleat: I never go barefoot on deck.
(2) Broke my foot jumping from boat to deck: I never jump; not good on the knees over time either.
(3) Broke 2 toes and coccyx, as Belle painfully pointed out, on the steps going from cockpit to salon. I had a brochure in one hand and phone in the other and didn't have a free hand fast enough for a grab rail. This was a month ago, went from close of boat show to e.r. A month later and I'm out of the inflatable cast, walking boot, and just spent a week in Holland visiting boat yards and boarding boats…with a cane!

I had been down those stairs a billion times. Yes, accidents will happen, but we get self-assured and forget things like the irregularity of steps, boat movement, and the distractions of life, particularly our phones!

Open Hatches!

How stupid do you have to be to fall down an open hatch?! Please don't answer, that was a rhetorical question. This too might come under the category of distractions. I went aboard a boat that I hadn't boarded previously. The captain was on deck and told me he was doing some work in the engine room (red flag I didn't catch). I walked into the salon going forward towards the galley and I saw a section of the headliner was removed; so as I'm walking towards the galley, rounding the breakfast bar, I'm looking up at the ceiling. I found the engine room, with the hatch open , in a fast descent. I was lucky I wasn't hurt worse. I know of experienced captains who have had serious injuries from open hatches.

Be aware of the 3 dimensional! I now tend to look down and forward when entering and walking through a boat. The upward vision is the 3rd level and remains peripheral.

That certainly isn't ideal, but it needs to be pointed out- that probably isn't a little glove box (I'm making an educated assumption). Rather, it is the end of a passerelle (retractable boarding plank), and is likely enclosed in a waterproof enclosure box. This step height was likely dictated by the smallest height of the passerelle assembly.

Also, while OSHA doesn't apply to a boat, I just looked at their guidelines. "Riser height and tread width shall be uniform throughout any flight of stairs". Residential steps must be between 4 and 7 3/4" height and cannot vary by more than 1/4". It all seems sort of common sense but someone with the builder of this boat sure didn't have it. I don't even know what boat that is but I would personally not buy it like that.

I also question making the middle step wider. What if someone ended up standing on it, then decided to take a step down without thinking that the lower step was narrower with the connector? Just all in all a very suspect set of steps.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS Make sure that your outboard dingy motor is in neutral prior to starting. I had a friend stop by a and when he went to leave, he pull started his outboard and it started and threw him off the boat as it came to life in forward and in a turn. Naturally, he had already cast off the dock lines, so the boat soon ran him over and then continued doing circles across the river, eventually finding some land and burning up the outboard. A financial settlement when the preventer fails is no way to compensate for a lost limb.

I've seen some pretty shoddy and uneven steps on 'Dancing with the Stars', but these ones do seem to get low points.

Really another of many reasons to have a kill cord on all small tenders or dinghies.

Our leading issue we deal with is sunburn. We diligently warn all new guests and we provide lots of lotion. We walk around often with lotion and telling people they need it. They don't grasp sometimes how easy to get burned and many out on the water tend to wear less clothes than they normally do and the risk of burn to areas that don't normally get sun is much greater.

Really another of many reasons to have a kill cord on the Sun.

OR

Really another of many reasons to have a kill cord on dumb people.

ie.- Darwinism

Good topic. I have a personal policy: "The job's not done until I bleed". Not one I'd recommend for most, but that's just how my life has been lived. What can I tell you; I work on boats. I recently took heat here when I stated that I always where shoes on board. Breaking or ripping open umpteen toes and feet on cleats, raised nails and splintery boards, etc. taught me that. So what's with these light and white colored carpets people put on boats so they can then say take your shoes off and leave them in the basket? Not happening! I'll turn your white carpet red with blood before long. Stairs are another huge hazzard. The previous poster was correct in saying that OSHA as well as most building codes have set the standard, but it's not followed on boats, because it may not look as nice. I have a set of spiral steps in my home. Both my wife and myself have gone down them the quick way. Fortunately my toes stopped my slde when they wrapped around one of the wrought iron stanchions. Unfortunately there wasn't enough room between my toes, so it pulverized one to make room. How many have a spiral staircase on their boat? Another thing is ladders. They're all over boats. I know we've all seen the WWII films with the Navy guys sliding down them with their backs to the steps. It looks cool, and it is quicker, but it's also a quicker way to visit the ER. ALWAYS face the ladder.
With how much fun boats are it must never be forgotten that they are a foreign environment. They're not like a home no matter how fancy you make them. Boating is dangerous, and extreme caution must always be taken. Now if we can get the designers to learn that form is supposed to dictate fashion on a boat, not the other way around.

Another thing that was mentioned is slipping, but let's expand that a little. Always know where your feet are on a boat. Besides the slipping and stubbing hazzards, have you ever noticed that lines seem to be alive like snakes and wrap around your feet amazingly fast? I've also seen a guy (a surgeon no less) have his finger chopped off in a split second when the boat moved while he was putting a loop over a cleat. It really is amazing how fast this stuff happens. You can be attentive and careful 99.99% of the time, but the one time you get distracted it's almost a guaranty that you'll get bit by something on a boat. Murphy's Law.