Mooring Accident Injuries
Mooring lines are common sights in any maritime environment. These lines keep ships tethered to docks and terminals while workers load and unload cargo, or while crews board or depart the ship. Mooring lines may seem relatively harmless, but they’re heavy, awkward, and prone to failure. They can snap and whip uncontrollably, causing serious injuries.
Mooring Line Accident Causes
Mooring line accidents happen when something causes the cable to snap, split, or otherwise break. Mooring a vessel is a precarious job, since strained mooring lines can unexpectedly break with tremendous force. When a mooring line fails, it acts like a huge slingshot, snapping back with overwhelming force. When this happens, anyone within reach of the snapped mooring line is at risk of being struck.
There are a number of factors that can lead to mooring line accidents, including:
- Rough seas
- Old, worn, or poorly-maintained mooring lines
- Getting caught in mooring lines
- Untrained, insufficient, or inexperienced crew
- Mooring lines are improperly secured
- Tripping or stumbling over mooring lines
- Malfunctioning or poorly-maintained winches or hydraulic motors
- Mooring lines with an improper gauge or material for the vessel being secured
Mooring Line Accident Injuries
Mooring line accidents are the reason for some of the most serious injuries suffered by maritime workers. Due to the tremendous amount of tension mooring lines are under, a broken line can cause a debilitating injury, or even death.
When a maritime worker is struck by a snapped mooring line, the resulting injuries often include:
- Crushed limbs
- Neck and back injuries
- Broken or fractured bones
- Eye injuries
- Paralysis
- Disfigurement
- Amputated limbs
- Muscle damage
- Spinal cord damage
- Head and traumatic brain injuries
- Loss of life
Receiving Compensation
If you were injured in a mooring line accident, you’re entitled to compensation for your past and future medical bills, loss of earning capacity, disfigurement, and pain and suffering. If you’ve lost a loved one due to a mooring line failure, you may be able to pursue damages with a wrongful death claim. To learn more, contact the law offices of Steve M. Lee, P.C., by using the form on this page.