Inspection Detail

Inspection: 110098936 - Inland Waterway Towing Service

Inspection Information - Office: Jacksonville Area Office

Investigation Summary

Employee #1 had been employed part-time as a tankerman by the Inland Waterway Towing Service on the Martha C tug boat for over 10 years. At approximately 7:15 p.m. on May 25, 1995, the Martha C pulled the Allied Towing Companies' barge TMI 101 to the West Way terminal in Jacksonville, FL, and secured it to the outboard side (portside) of the barge TMI 91. A port engineer employed by Allied Towing was aboard the barge TMI 91, preparing it for a U.S. Coast Guard inspection. Employee #1 continued with his work until he heard a deckhand yell from the TMI 91 that a man was down. The tug captain and his crew gathered around the #3 port hatch and discovered the port engineer lodged on the ladder about 5 ft below the hatch opening. The captain immediately ran for the telephone located on the tug and, while he was away, Employee #1 decided to go into the space to try to push the port engineer up the ladder. Upon arriving back at the #3 hatch, the captain and crew pulled the port engineer to safety, then discovered that Employee #1 was in the space below where the port engineer had been hanging on the ladder. While the captain and crew were looking down into the space, Employee #1 fell approximately 18 ft from the ladder to the bottom of the barge. The medical examiner's report lists the cause of death as asphyxia due to anoxia.

Keywords: OXYGEN DEFICIENCY, BARGE, ASPHYXIATED, CONFINED SPACE, HATCH, LADDER, TOXIC ATMOSPHERE, FALL