PSS releases annual safety performance review for 2024

The annual analysis of port industry incidents shows that safety performance in 2024 continued to improve overall. However, not all PSS members contribute their incident data to PSS, and therefore we remain unable to present a complete picture of safety within the sector. All PSS port members are strongly urged to consider taking part in data collection, either monthly or annually in the future.

Fatalities

Whilst no fatalities were reported by contributing members in 2024, two fatal incidents occurred within the wider UK port sector. These involved the death of a crew member during the loading of freight vehicles onto a Ro-Ro vessel, and a port worker who died following a water-related incident.

Lost time injuries and incidents reported under RIDDOR

Lost time injuries (LTIs) fell by eight 8% to 178 in 2024, with the total number of days lost increasing to 3,021.

RIDDOR-reportable incidents remained largely unchanged (105 compared to 106 in 2023).

The details of RIDDOR incidents reported in 2023 are:

• Seven dangerous occurrences, including equipment failures, fires, and asbestos exposure.
• 78 over-7-day injuries
• 26 specified injuries
• The reported number of RIDDOR specified injuries increased by 19% (from 21 in 2023)

Immediate causes

The most common immediate cause of LTIs continued to be slips, trips, and falls on the same level, though these fell from 48 in 2023 to 36 in 2024.

Incident locations

Incident distribution remained broadly consistent with previous years. The most frequent locations for LTIs were container ships, berth/quayside areas, and cargo handling equipment, which rose to the the third most common location.

The full Port industry incident statistics report for 2024 is available here.