Report: Sailor’s overboard death was preventable

[unhappycamper]

Report: Sailor’s overboard death was preventable
By Erik Slavin, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Wednesday, January 6, 2010

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The death of a USS Shiloh sailor who fell overboard near Tokyo Harbor last summer could have been prevented at several points, according to an official investigation report obtained by Stars and Stripes.

Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher Geathers, 30, was performing a task rarely done at sea — let alone in strong winds and choppy waters — when he fell over the side July 8, just a couple of miles from the harbor’s outer marker, according to the command report and Navy contractors who had worked previously with Geathers aboard the ship.

Geathers was not wearing a flotation device or a harness when he fell from a ladder while working close to the ship’s life rail, the report said.

"Several layers of supervision had both opportunity and responsibility to intervene, but did not take action to reduce the risk in this evolution," according to the report signed by Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander of Task Force 70. "The Sea Detail Fantail Officer-in-Charge, Fantail Safety Officer and the junior Sailor assigned to the work detail physically saw EM1 Geathers conducting his task without the proper safety equipment and did not intervene."

No disciplinary action was recommended by the investigation board for any members of the Shiloh crew. The board’s recommendations that the command conduct shipwide safety training and develop a procedure for rigging shore power equipment were followed, said Task Force 70 spokesman Cmdr. K.C. Marshall.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=67023