Maritime crane accidents make the news

This month we have reported on a pair of crane accidents. One worker barely escaped with his life and another filed a Jones Act suit for his injuries.

On December 2, at a Halifax, Nova Scotia shipyard, a 55-ton crane tipped over at the dock. Miraculously, a 61-year-old longshoreman who was moving a forklift onto a passenger ferry with the crane escaped with only bruises. He was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures and went back to work less than six hours after the accident. The accident is being investigated by the Canadian Coast Guard. If this accident occurred in the U.S. and the worker chose to file a claim against his employer, he would do so under the Longshore Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act, or LHWCA. (Source: Jones Act Law.com)

In the Jones Act case filed on December 1, a mariner claims injuries to his head and neck after a pallet fell on him. Travis Dion Chambliss, Hattiesburg, MS, charges Ensco Offshore Co. with negligence and an unseaworthy vessel in the suit filed in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. He claims the pallet was being lifted when it fell on him while working aboard the vessel Ensco 82 on May 27. Chambliss seeks over $75,000 in damages for his injuries, mental anguish and lost wages. The case number is 3:10-cv-00570 and is presided over by Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt. (Source: Southeast Texas Record)