Many of you asked us for the manufacturer of the winch involved in the freak accident in Jolly Harbor Marina, Antigua back in early March in which a woman’s arm was severed and a man lost eight fingers. Lewmar has issued a statement in which they have announced that an investigation is underway and has called to attention several safety reminders. The statement reads:
Safety is of paramount importance to Lewmar and, in advance of the outcome of the investigation and as part of our ongoing commitment to operational safety, we would like to remind owners of Lewmar manual and electrically-operated winches of the following key points from the Lewmar Electric 40-77 & Hydraulic 46-111 Winches Manual, Sections 2.1 and 6.1:
- Under no circumstances should any self tailing winch be used in self tailing mode for any lifting operation; rather suitable and adequate manual tailing should be arranged with proper means of manually cleating or stopping the hoist.
- Isolate the winch using circuit breaker/isolator when not in use.
- Only persons who are completely familiar with the controls and those who have been fully made aware of the correct use of the winch should be allowed to use it.
- It is the unavoidable responsibility of the owner or master or other responsible party to assess the risk of any operation on the vessel.
For more information, go to www.lewmar.com.
