This document, dated February 11, 2022, highlights the joint position of FEPORT and ESPO on the safety of port workers. Both organizations underscore the paramount importance of ensuring the safety of dock workers aboard ships calling at EU seaports. They have actively engaged with the Social Partners of the Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC) for Ports on this issue and have formally requested the European Commission’s support in finding a sustainable solution to prevent accidents during cargo handling operations.
A central point of this reply is the identified legal gap concerning the safety coverage for dock workers. FEPORT and ESPO stress the urgent need to address this by revising relevant EU legislation or by incorporating comprehensive checklists. Their aim is to facilitate safer cargo handling operations and implement more effective, comprehensive, and systematic controls of vessels. They believe that standardized, systematic, and consistent checks are essential to guarantee the safety of both seafarers and dock workers.
The organizations further elaborate that the current “ship-centric” definition of “the operations of a ship” and “marine incident” leads to a critical legal gap, leaving dock workers aboard vessels uncovered by EU safety legislation. This situation results in ambiguity regarding jurisdiction, responsibilities, and monitoring. FEPORT and ESPO express high expectations for the outcomes of the ongoing impact assessments related to the revisions of Directive 2009/16/EC on Port State Control and Directive 2009/18/EC, which governs the investigation of accidents in the maritime transport sector.
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