Jump to content

Managed To Avoid A Nasty Accident Today


Alan de Enfield

Featured Posts

River Trent 14/10/17

Departed Cromwell Lock heading upstream for Newark.

Called the Lock keeper at Nether Lock when 10 minutes out and asked to pen-up when convenient, received the reply “Lock is in your favour, gates are open, lights are green come straight in”

Entered the lock-cut and as the bow passed the gates, the gates started to close, - immediately stuck both engines into full reverse and just managed to back out as the gates closed to leave about a 3-foot gap  - we are a 14 foot beam GRP cruiser, we would have been totally crushed.

Called the Lock Keeper on the VHF: “Nether Lock, what the  hell are you doing ?”

No reply but the gates opened and we entered.

No sign of the lock keeper – he only appeared after waiting about 10 minutes for another boat to arrive.

Asked him what had happened and he said: “I closed the gates because I thought you were already in the lock”

A real brown-trouser event that could have had disastrous consequences.

I’m all for volunteer lock keepers but they really should be taught the importance of looking out of the ‘hut window’ and awaiting the OK from the skipper before closing gates or raising paddles.

 

For those not familiar with the Trent locks, they are around 130 feet long, 25 feet wide with very high walls and huge hydraulically powered gates.

 

Nether Lock

Image result for nether lock newark dimensions

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, keith. said:

Obviously not ideal but why reverse? Would it not have been better to accelerate into the lock?

Had I gone forward the full length of the boat would have had to pass thru the narrowing gates, and, I would probably have hit the top gates at a fair speed.

By going astern I only had to get about6 feet of boat back out of the reducing gap - the boat is a proper boat-shaped boat (with a pointy front end) so as it reversed it got narrower as the gap continued to narrow.

Going astern also gave me about 100 yards to slow down, take stock and BREATHE.

 

4 minutes ago, NickF said:

Isn't nether Locke a forum member?

He was a couple of years ago but now (I think) all the non-tidal locks are manned by 'vollys'

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

just wondering - is the hydraulic system fitted with an overload sensor that would stop the gates from continuing to close if they suddenly met hard resistance?

from my own experience of instrumentation and mechanisation it would be normal practice for that to be fitted, assuming a hazard analysis had been undertaken as part of the design process.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, Murflynn said:

just wondering - is the hydraulic system fitted with an overload sensor that would stop the gates from continuing to close if they suddenly met hard resistance?

from my own experience of instrumentation and mechanisation it would be normal practice for that to be fitted, assuming a hazard analysis had been undertaken as part of the design process.

I have no idea, but didn’t hang about to find out.

The next lock up (Town Lock) only has one sluice working and takes about 30+ minutes to fill, Further upstream Hazelford Lock is closing for 5 weeks because of ‘problems’, then the Next Lock (Gunthorpe) broke down as we tried to enter with the ‘hydraulic power pack failing’, meaning one of the bottom gates could not be closed*, a Manager was called, (arrived in about half an hour) who instigated a manual override (using a hand held plug in device like a crane hoist controller) so we got thru – don’t know what happened after that.

* The Volly Lockie said if they managed to get it closed but couldn’t open it again we would be OK as we could just use a single gate – she did not seem to appreciate we have a 14 foot beam.

 

All in all an interesting few days on't River

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, zenataomm said:

Hell's Teeth! You were lucky.

I take it you have raised the issue?

Glad you were OK.

 

2 minutes ago, Neil2 said:

I hope you have reported this to CRT...  That has to be the most basic of basic errors I think I would have had the keeper by the throat if it had happened to me. 

No, I have not raised with C&RT -

As we finally got into the lock another boat called up “10 minutes out would like to lock up” the lockie replied he would hold the gates for them.

Normally the lockie would come and inspect our licence, ask for our destination, pass the time of day but this time (I presume he was so embarrassed) he just stayed in his hut until the other boat arrived, at which time (being ‘safe’ and having a witness should anything happen) he stuck his head over the edge of the lock and (sort of) apologised.

 

Just a young lad - I think (hope) he has had a scare and will be more careful in future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I have no idea, but didn’t hang about to find out.

The next lock up (Town Lock) only has one sluice working and takes about 30+ minutes to fill, Further upstream Hazelford Lock is closing for 5 weeks because of ‘problems’, then the Next Lock (Gunthorpe) broke down as we tried to enter with the ‘hydraulic power pack failing’, meaning one of the bottom gates could not be closed*, a Manager was called, (arrived in about half an hour) who instigated a manual override (using a hand held plug in device like a crane hoist controller) so we got thru – don’t know what happened after that.

* The Volly Lockie said if they managed to get it closed but couldn’t open it again we would be OK as we could just use a single gate – she did not seem to appreciate we have a 14 foot beam.

 

All in all an interesting few days on't River

Well, if you insist on embarrassing CRT by having the gall to move around the system. Disappointing actually as I usually find the big river locks far better maintained than the manual canal locks. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, keith. said:

I usually find the big river locks far better maintained than the manual canal locks. 

Agreed - it just looks as if they  were all last repaired at about the same time, and are now starting to breakdown at the same time.

It was only a couple of years ago that Holme (Pierrepont) lock was closed for almost 6 months , originally to repair a gate, they then found the bottom of the lock had collapsed and the water was draining away thru it.

Holme Lock is 175 feet long and would hold 21 double-decker buses (should be so inclined to try)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

50 minutes ago, john6767 said:

That sounds like a very scary event.  I do think you need to formally report it to CRT, they need to have the opportunity to understand what went wrong.

I agree, if it isn't fully and properly investigated no one will learn anything a d the chances are it will happen again.

In the industry in which I used to work ALL near misses, and obviously actual incidents, were fully and properly investigated.  It really did help reduce the number and impact of incidents over time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, cuthound said:

I agree, if it isn't fully and properly investigated no one will learn anything a d the chances are it will happen again.

In the industry in which I used to work ALL near misses, and obviously actual incidents, were fully and properly investigated.  It really did help reduce the number and impact of incidents over time. 

Many years ago I had a 'near-miss' with a Vulcan bomber whilst flying South over the A1, it flipped me upside down and into a spin and I just managed to recover before hitting the ground, every day since then has been a bonus, I try to worry as little as possible about "what ifs" now.

As it so very nearly ended up as a 'death' I did report the air-miss but never heard any more about it.

I'll give consideration to calling C&RT next week as the hive seems to think it is the correct course of action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

I agree, if it isn't fully and properly investigated no one will learn anything a d the chances are it will happen again.

In the industry in which I used to work ALL near misses, and obviously actual incidents, were fully and properly investigated.  It really did help reduce the number and impact of incidents over time. 

when I worked for BP I expected to see a clearly defined pyramid showing the frequency of reports of incidents, with a wide base of near misses, and fewer numbers of more serious occurrences, hopefully with the top tier (fatalities) missing.  If a contractor could not demonstrate such a pyramid, but just identified a few serious incidents that had been reported to the HSE, then they were disqualified from tendering for work.

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Report it. Near miss reporting form here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/original/27005-safety-near-miss-reporting-form.pdf?v=1aede8

Send it to the local waterways manager unless anyone has a better idea of the recipient.

Interestingly on the basis of a quick scan of their web site (I may have missed something), no-one on the exceutive, trustee body or council of CART seems to admit to responsibility for Health & Safety. Someone called Tony Stammers seems to be head of H&S (he signs off their reports).

Martin/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Onewheeler said:

Report it. Near miss reporting form here: https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/original/27005-safety-near-miss-reporting-form.pdf?v=1aede8

Send it to the local waterways manager unless anyone has a better idea of the recipient.

Interestingly on the basis of a quick scan of their web site (I may have missed something), no-one on the exceutive, trustee body or council of CART seems to admit to responsibility for Health & Safety. Someone called Tony Stammers seems to be head of H&S (he signs off their reports).

Martin/

Ddddoes he rrreally.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Many years ago I had a 'near-miss' with a Vulcan bomber whilst flying South over the A1, it flipped me upside down and into a spin and I just managed to recover before hitting the ground, every day since then has been a bonus, I try to worry as little as possible about "what ifs" now.

As it so very nearly ended up as a 'death' I did report the air-miss but never heard any more about it.

I'll give consideration to calling C&RT next week as the hive seems to think it is the correct course of action.

Stop giving consideration, and report it.

I know that there is always the nagging doubt that says "we avoided catastrophe, and I don't want to get anybody into trouble", but put it aside.

"Never Events" should always be reported, and a near miss like this due to a failure to operate in accordance with protocol is a "never event"

Whilst THAT lockie will have learned a valuable lesson about complacency, the fact that he was complacent suggests that others may be too, and they didn't have the brown trouser moment to teach them. Reporting it allows CRT to send a notice out about the near miss to counteract any complacency that is out there.

There is also the need to ensure that if this lockie has a history of mistakes, they know about the latest one. Has he had previous errors and not learned from them

  • Greenie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

54 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Ddddoes he rrreally.

Reminds me of when I first started work. As we looked after several buildings, you will to the one where your first job was and phoned in to a central point from there. I was working with a colleague called Dave.

He phoned in and said "Hhhhi, it it it its Dddd,  Dddd, Dddd"

Whereupon the person on the other end of the phone said "Hi Dave, I'll book you in".

Dave's response was priceless... "Hhhhow dd dd did you know it it was me" :lol:

  • Greenie 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.