The Steamship Authority’s explanation for an incident that left one dock worker with an injured jaw has expanded.
Internal records obtained by The Times through a records request indicates that the boat was still attached to the port as it moved out to sea, and that proper protocol was not being followed.
The Steamship originally told media outlets that a tide was the cause of the accident.
As reported last month, on July 6, a dock worker was hit in the jaw by a spinning winch handle on the transfer bridge near the gallows in Woods Hole. The dock worker was helping to prepare for the Nantucket’s 11:05 am department to the Island. Video surveillance of the incident shows the worker gripping his face, seemingly in pain, after the incident. The worker was then transported to Falmouth Hospital for further treatment. The name of the dockworker has not been released by the Steamship Authority.
The Steamship at the time said in a statement that the tide moved the vessel, causing the docking winch to spin as the dockworker was releasing the vessel from the dock. Steamship officials also said these kinds of incidents are infrequent.
After the injury, a witness told The Times that it looked like a cable to hold the boat in the slip had snapped.
The Times filed a records request on July 12, receiving a response on July 26 with redacted documents, as well as security footage of the incident.
According to a report the captain of the Nantucket filed to the Steamship Authority on the day of the incident, the vessel was “slowly drifting out of the slip before the ‘hooks’ were off the freight deck.”
At the time, the captain reported that a bosun tried to radio that hooks securing the boat to port were still attached to the moving boat. The line handler at the time also “confirmed that the boat was moving” before the line was released. As a result, the cable “parted” and later had to be addressed by the ferry line’s maintenance staff.
Footage of the incident shows the injured dock worker was spinning a winch to release tension on a line holding the boat to the port. With a slack line, staff on the boat can release a ring that holds the boat to the dock. As the boat drifted from the dock, the line went taut and spun the winch, eventually striking the worker before the line snapped.
In a report to the U.S. Coast Guard, the captain reported that the vessel moved because of the tides, and the “port engine [was] in reverse.”
According to Sean Driscoll, the Steamship Authority communications director, proper protocol when a ferry is preparing to depart is to have the engines set forward so the vessel does not drift.
In a follow-up question from The Times after the records request indicated new information about the incident, Driscoll said the details were not publicly disclosed in July because “those facts were not known at the time of the initial statement.”
The Steamship is also reporting they are conducting an internal investigation into the incident.
Video footage from Woods Hole terminal parking lot, obtained by The Times, also shows that the captain and crew appeared to be waiting for another worker before starting their trip. Crew members had set the gate at the port ramp into the boat, indicating that the ramp was closed. Nearly two minutes after closing the ramp, a Steamship worker got off a Steamship shuttle bus, ran to the Nantucket, stepped over the gate, and then ran onboard. About 20 seconds later, the boat started to move from the port.
Video footage from inside the Nantucket indicates that there was a scramble as the boat started moving from the port. After the dock worker was struck in the jaw by the spinning winch, other crew members moved away from the area as the line snaps.
No substance use was involved in the incident, according to the report to the Coast Guard.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration deemed that the incident did not fall under its jurisdiction.
The Steamship’s internal investigation remains ongoing.
You can fast forward the video to 4:45 and skip ALLLLLL of it.
Brian than you for allowing us to skip 4 1/2 minutes of this video.
If you look closely at the lettering on the ship to the right
of the ramp, and site it against the post on the dock
the letter furthest to the right disappears behind the post.
The boat moved–
The more we hear about the SSA it just get worse in how they run things. We get lied to and not for the first time and without the MV Times we would never know.
So they get caught lying again but don’t worry they are investigating themselves so you know there will be zero accountability. Once again why does Bob Davis still have a job?
Bob Davis still has job because he serves at the pleasure of the Board of Governors.
The Board of governors still have jobs because they serve at the pleasure of the ‘County Commissioners’ .
The County Commissioners serve at the pleasure of we the people.
That is why Bob Davis still has a job.
What should change?
Change we people?
Clear thinking, open-minded people should start to figure out things aren’t adding up at the Steamship Authority. Between its parlor tricks, and smoke and mirrors, Steamship management needs an enema. Just like they have no problem lying to the public, they have no problem lying to its own employees. The fish rots from the head down and Davis ought to be strung out in the Square.
Lou, that’s a bit harsh! More civility please.
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