Accident at lock

[MrsM]

Just thought I would share this link. It describes an accident at a lock landing in which the lock operator slips and gets injured by the propeller. The parties involved explain how they could/should have handled things differently so please let's not start being overly critical of them. It is an important reminder of what can happen. Sorry if this has already been shared and discussed.

 

[Athy]

A close shave indeed - frightening and painful for Marian, but could have been much worse.

Actually I almost gave up watching while Peter was giving his account. He's the sort of chap that, if you ask him the time at half past two, it'll be quarter past three by the time he's finished telling you.

[Rob-M]

I slipped once as I stepped off the top gate and fell, as I rolled towards the canal I could see the boat which was in reverse was going to meet me. Fortunately I just managed to stop myself going over the edge in to the canal.

I don't leave the boat unattended in reverse gear anymore.

[David Mack]

A very lucky escape! People have suffered much worse injuries and have died from contact with a rotating propeller.

If someone falls in near a boat ALWAYS ALWAYS immediately put the engine in neutral and then kill it. Trying to manoeuvre away from the person in the water under power is just too risky, as this incident demonstrates. Of course its difficult when you are trying to avoid the person getting crushed as well, but there is usually more time to try and prevent that, using human muscle alone.

The key lesson though must be not to make those split second leaps. If the boat needed to go forward and back again to pick her up, it's just one of those things, as is bumping the boat moored beyond the lock.

28 years ago, I made a flying leap from lockside to boat and ended up breaking one ankle and seriously bruising the other (4 days into a 3 week hire boat trip) so I understand how accidents like this can happen.

Anyway, best wishes to Marianne for her recovery, and thanks to both for being so honest about the mistakes they made.

Edited April 17, 2021 by David Mack

[GUMPY]

13 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

I slipped once as I stepped off the top gate and fell, as I rolled towards the canal I could see the boat which was in reverse was going to meet me. Fortunately I just managed to stop myself going over the edge in to the canal.

I don't leave the boat unattended in reverse gear anymore.

Many years ago a very good friend of mine was single handing up the Northampton arm, exiting the top gate she dropped the boat into reverse and proceded to step off to close the gate. Her jacket caught on a bolt on the rear cabin doors and into the canal she tumbled, luckily she is a small person and managed to get into the gate recess and watched the boat go past inches away from her.

If she had been any bigger she would not have lived to tell the tale.

Stangely after that  the bolts were removed from the rear doors and she stopped leaving the boat in reverse when exiting a lock.

 

[booke23]

47 minutes ago, Athy said:

He's the sort of chap that, if you ask him the time at half past two, it'll be quarter past three by the time he's finished telling you.

I must admit to thinking the same. However youtube’s 1.5x playback feature is worth using during his account!

 

A very lucky escape. Reminds me of that fatal accident on the Oxford canal a few years back. 

 

[Mike Tee]

Wow! Scary stuff - that lady should buy a lottery ticket, she is so lucky to have got away with the injuries she has. That could have been far, far worse.

[Athy]

33 minutes ago, David Mack said:

 

If someone falls in near a boat ALWAYS ALWAYS immediately put the engine in neutral.

Exactly. I remember, some years ago, yelling "Neutral!" at a CanalTime crew when one of their number fell in. They looked blank for a long moment, but fortunately one of them twigged what I meant.

15 minutes ago, booke23 said:

 

 

A very lucky escape. Reminds me of that fatal accident on the Oxford canal a few years back. 

 

Slightly different, as the lady in question was actually on board in a lock, and got swept off when the rudder hit the cill and the tiller whipped round. But it could easily have ended up in the same way.

[MrsM]

1 hour ago, Athy said:

A close shave indeed - frightening and painful for Marian, but could have been much worse.

Actually I almost gave up watching while Peter was giving his account. He's the sort of chap that, if you ask him the time at half past two, it'll be quarter past three by the time he's finished telling you.

Yes it is a tad long-winded!

57 minutes ago, David Mack said:

A very lucky escape! People have suffered much worse injuries and have died from contact with a rotating propeller.

If someone falls in near a boat ALWAYS ALWAYS immediately put the engine in neutral and then kill it. Trying to manoeuvre away from the person in the water under power is just too risky, as this incident demonstrates. Of course its difficult when you are trying to avoid the person getting crushed as well, but there is usually more time to try and prevent that, using human muscle alone.

The key lesson though must be not to make those split second leaps. If the boat needed to go forward and back again to pick her up, it's just one of those things, as is bumping the boat moored beyond the lock.

28 years ago, I made a flying leap from lockside to boat and ended up breaking one ankle and seriously bruising the other (4 days into a 3 week hire boat trip) so I understand how accidents like this can happen.

Anyway, best wishes to Marianne for her recovery, and thanks to both for being so honest about the mistakes they made.

That's very much the lesson I have learnt from this - to stop the propeller immediately. Hope you still managed to enjoy your holiday. 

[David Mack]

2 hours ago, MrsM said:

Hope you still managed to enjoy your holiday. 

Yup. Taxi trip to Wolverhampton hospital to get it x-rayed and a plaster cast. Then stopped in Stoke 10 days later to get the cast patched up. I spent 2 1/2 weeks steering while the wife did all the locks.  We had our 3 month old son with us, and my mother joined us for part of the trip. Sat in the pub after a particularly hard day's locking Mum announced "Well that wasn't bad for an old age pensioner, a nursing mother, a babe in arms and a man with a broken leg!"

[booke23]

5 hours ago, Athy said:

Slightly different, as the lady in question was actually on board in a lock, and got swept off when the rudder hit the cill and the tiller whipped round. But it could easily have ended up in the same way.

 

Yes indeed. This could very easily have ended up like that.

 

I imagine it must be rare to have such a close encounter with a running propeller and come away with the comparatively minor injuries she has. 

 

 

[blackrose]

She was very fortunate to get away with such relatively minor injuries from a spinning prop.

 

I don't really understand his account. I thought he said they'd gone uphill through a lock and were exiting the lock. But he also said she'd gone back down to the bottom gates of the lock to open a paddle. Why would you do that?

Edited April 18, 2021 by blackrose

[Nightwatch]

Cropredy lock about ten years ago didn’t turn out too well. Sadly resulted in a death. Slightly different but a mistake.

[Phil.]

3 hours ago, blackrose said:

She was very fortunate to get away with such relatively minor injuries from a spinning prop.

 

I don't really understand his account. I thought he said they'd gone uphill through a lock and were exiting the lock. But he also said she'd gone back down to the bottom gates of the lock to open a paddle. Why would you do that?

Some locks are required to be left empty I believe.

[blackrose]

17 hours ago, Phil. said:

Some locks are required to be left empty I believe.

 

Cowroast lock on the GU is not one of them as far as I remember. Anyway how can you leave a lock empty when you're opening a gate at the top for another boat to enter which is also what they said?

 

It doesn't make sense. I think they're a bit confused after the accident.

Edited April 19, 2021 by blackrose

[Mike Tee]

The way I interpreted it, they had exited the lock, steerer was holding at the closed top gate while wife went to raise bottom paddle. Then another boat appeared from top end, so she left paddle as it was and returned to top gate. As we all mostly do, she was helping arrived boat by opening top gate for them. Then it all went wrong.

She really was lucky not to be far more seriously injured.

[Maffi]

On 17/04/2021 at 12:43, booke23 said:

A very lucky escape. Reminds me of that fatal accident on the Oxford canal a few years back. 

 

That was different. Varney's Lock. The woman was on the boat and to allow the bottom gates to open she reversed back hitting the cill, fell over the stern and hit her head. She was dragged under and forward by the reversing propeller and then trapped.

 

[Nightwatch]

8 hours ago, Lord Maffi of Oxford said:

That was different. Varney's Lock. The woman was on the boat and to allow the bottom gates to open she reversed back hitting the cill, fell over the stern and hit her head. She was dragged under and forward by the reversing propeller and then trapped.

 

Didn’t know about the Varneys lock incident. Thought it may have been Cropredy lock. Hire boat ascending the lock. Mum onboard went into astern to counter forward movement. Tiller knocked her overboard. We know what happened next. Absolutely terrifying for the family working the lock. Any accident is just that, an accident. A slip of thought, distraction, whatever. 

[ditchcrawler]

7 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

  Any accident is just that, an accident. A slip of thought, distraction, whatever. 

I hate to say it, but its not, its a know risk that could be engineered out. You wouldn't like the answer but a proper guarded handrail around the stern would have stopped her or anyone else falling off the stern of a boat. She is not the only one, by a long way. On lad falls off a bridge he is biking over and dies in a lock and C&RT have to fit suitably designed handrails to all bridges. The fact that a notice said not to cycle over didn't come into it. Why do you think all C&RT staff wear lifejackets when on a boat, because falling in is a known risk. As boaters we accept that risk every day and if we die its written off as an accident, if we were working our employer would be in court.

[Jerra]

21 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

 Why do you think all C&RT staff wear lifejackets when on a boat, because falling in is a known risk. 

We were once held up at a CRT operated lock as their life jackets were one day out of date and they couldn't operate the lock until a van delivered new ones.

[Maffi]

8 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Didn’t know about the Varneys lock incident. 

Any accident is just that, an accident. A slip of thought, distraction, whatever. 

That was the only death on that stretch in the last 9/10 years.

 

And accident happen when all reasonable precautions are taken and still something goes wrong. They are generally unavoidable. Most "accidents" incidents and are avoidable. In this case (Cowroast) the driver of the boat said he knew he was wrong. Ergo not an accident but an incident.

[Nightwatch]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I hate to say it, but its not, its a know risk that could be engineered out. You wouldn't like the answer but a proper guarded handrail around the stern would have stopped her or anyone else falling off the stern of a boat. She is not the only one, by a long way. On lad falls off a bridge he is biking over and dies in a lock and C&RT have to fit suitably designed handrails to all bridges. The fact that a notice said not to cycle over didn't come into it. Why do you think all C&RT staff wear lifejackets when on a boat, because falling in is a known risk. As boaters we accept that risk every day and if we die its written off as an accident, if we were working our employer would be in court.

Agree.

2 hours ago, Lord Maffi of Oxford said:

That was the only death on that stretch in the last 9/10 years.

 

And accident happen when all reasonable precautions are taken and still something goes wrong. They are generally unavoidable. Most "accidents" incidents and are avoidable. In this case (Cowroast) the driver of the boat said he knew he was wrong. Ergo not an accident but an incident.

Agree.

Always thought an accident may come into the category of ‘not intensional’. Spell check.

[Slim]

On 18/04/2021 at 11:03, Nightwatch said:

Cropredy lock about ten years ago didn’t turn out too well. Sadly resulted in a death. Slightly different but a mistake.

I thought it was Varney's, could be wrong. ?

[Nightwatch]

Didn’t think I was going mad. Thought it was Cropredy. We used to moor not far away and remember it well.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1203456/Children-mother-fall-death-steers-canal-boat.html

[dogless]

The location was Varney's lock which is near Cropredy.

Don't rely on the DM for accuracy.

Rog