Tugboat Safety

Boating safety is a fairly wide subject to discuss, but tugboat safety, because of the specialized use of tugboats, is more specialized; and although it has many things in common with safety aboard other kinds of vessel, the high-horsepower tug and its special way of moving cargo make tugboat safety just as different from boating safety as boating safety is from driving safety.

  1. General Deck Safety

    • Aboard a tugboat, the deck is the most hazardous place. The deck is an industrial workplace, posing the same eye, ear and bodily hazards as a factory, plus the potential for drowning. Mitigation of many of these hazards begins with the appropriate wear of personnel protective equipment, including safety glasses, gloves, appropriate clothing and footwear, as well as personal flotation devices -- life jackets, flotation vests or inflatable life vests. Focus, attitude and a common sense approach to work on deck prevent hazards from becoming accidents.

    Towing Safety

    • Tugboats use winches and steel cables to pull other vessels through the water. Ratchets bind multiple barges together to form long tows. Hazards include becoming entangled in the winch drum or loops in the cable, being struck by a cable that breaks under the strain and snapping back onto deck, back injuries from carrying large ratchets between barges and tripping over towing gear on deck. Following established towing safety procedures, maintaining cable and winches in good working order and using common sense in towing operations all help foster a safe towing environment.

    Personal Safety

    • While the tug's master is responsible for the safety of the crew, the individual crew members must see safety as part of the work, not an impediment to it. More than the wearing of personal protective equipment, personal safety means that each crew member takes responsibility for their own safety and for making choices in their work behavior that fosters safety aboard the boat.

    Barge Safety

    • Crew members are often involved in lashing a group of barges together to form a unified tow move from barge to barge, crossing over gaps between barges. They work near the sides of the barges when lashing barges together. When working aboard barges, crew members face the danger of falling "over the side" and drowning even more than when aboard the tugboat. Largely based on common sense and caution, work aboard the barges doesn't take place aboard the tugboat, but, because it involves the tug's deck crew, it is still part of tugboat safety.