SUMMARY

On 27 June 2022, a marine engineer died on board the ferry STENA GERMANICA. The marine engineer was found unconscious next to a ballast pump in the boiler room. CPR continued for over an hour without success. A doctor and a nurse among the passengers assisted the crew during the rescue operation. At first the death was assumed to be due to natural causes, a sudden cardiac arrest or similar.

On 14 July, about two weeks after the death, another marine engineer was looking for the cause of a water leak at the ballast pump where the colleague had been found unconscious. As he leaned forward to feel where the water was coming from, he received a very strong electric shock from a solenoid valve that was wet. The marine engineer did not know that it was at that ballast pump that his colleague had been found and that the colleague had also been looking for a water leak. Suspicions then arose that the live part could have had a connection with the previous death.

The shipping company hired an electrical company that came on board the day after the second incident to investigate. At the same time, the shipping company informed the police authority that the previous death could have been an electrical accident.

Several different errors caused the components to become live. In addition to the fact that the gasket that should sit between the connector and the coil of the solenoid valve was missing, there was also no protective grounding. The incoming cables had also been changed, which meant that the solenoid valve was energized the entire time the pump was in operation.

Neither individually, nor all the errors together, affected the operation and thus the crew had not received any indication that there were any errors. The electrical circuit was designed as a solidly earthed system (TT-system), which was outside the ordinary isolated earth fault monitored electrical system. These earthed systems can produce high fault currents when transferred to ground, which in this case was the ship's hull.

The accident on 14 July 2022 was caused by improperly connected components of a ballast pump becoming live when they came into contact with water, causing current to pass through when the crewman touched the components. This was probably also behind the death on 27 June 2022.

The underlying reasons for the components becoming live were probably that persons without sufficient knowledge had carried out electrical installation work. Deficiencies may also have existed in the electrical installation already when the ship was delivered as new.

Due to the events, SHK issues the following recommendations to the shipping company and the Swedish Transport Agency.

Safety recommendations

Stena Line Scandinavia AB is recommended to:

• Review the routines for familiarization of the entire crew on board, with the aim of shortening the response time from alarm until crew members arrive at the scene of the accident (see sections 1.1 and 3.4).

• Draw up routines for consulting the medical services ashore, every time a person on board receives an electric shock or electrocution (see sections 1.5.2 and 3.4).

The Swedish transport Agency is recommended to:

• Within the framework of their supervision, pay attention to the risks of improperly performed electrical work on board ships, e.g. by emphasizing in dialogue with the shipping companies the importance that only people with the required knowledge in electricity and the ship's special electrical system carry out electrical work on board (see section 1.8 and 3.2).