SAFETY HARNESS GREMLIN

The incident – where crew member, Simon Speirs fell overboard from the yacht CV30 – is being investigated by the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch.
Spiers was participating in the third leg of the Race – between Cape Town and Fremantle – and was attached to the yacht by his safety harness tether. The hook at the end of the tether was clipped to a jack-line, but deformed under load and released, resulting in him falling overboard. He was recovered unconscious but could not be resuscitated.

INITIAL FINDINGS

Speirs was using a three-point webbing tether. The hook at the end of the tether became caught under a deck cleat (Figure 1), resulting in a lateral loading that distorted the hook to (Figure 2), causing it to release.

The harness tether was certified under ISO12401 (Small craft – Deck safety harness and safety line – Safety requirements and test methods), the international standard applicable to this equipment.
The standard assumes the tether and its hooks will be loaded longitudinally rather than laterally. When loaded longitudinally, the tether can withstand a load of over 1 tonne. But when loaded laterally it will deform at much less load.
It is important that tether hooks remain clear of obstructions and are free to rotate to align the load longitudinally. For more information visit www.gov.uk/maib.