Getting from a boat to a platform is one of the most dangerous things offshore.
Workers transfer between vessels and platforms by personnel basket, swing rope, gangway, and walk-to-work system — over moving water, on a crane. When a transfer goes wrong, the fall is onto steel or into the sea.
Who is liable for a personnel-transfer accident offshore?
These are usually preventable failures, not unavoidable accidents. Liability can reach more than one party at once: the employer for negligence under the Jones Act, the vessel or platform owner for an unseaworthy or unsafe condition, and third parties such as equipment manufacturers or other contractors. What you can recover also depends on whether you were a seaman or a platform worker.
Key takeaways
- Liability for a personnel-transfer accident can reach the employer, the vessel or platform owner, and third parties at once.
- A Jones Act seaman recovers from the employer for negligence and can claim unseaworthiness against the vessel.
- Equipment makers and other contractors can be pursued as third parties.
- These events are usually preventable failures, not unavoidable accidents.
- Preserving the equipment and scene early is often decisive.
A transfer over moving water.
Personnel transfers move workers between a vessel and a platform by crane-lifted basket, by swing rope, by gangway, and by motion-compensated walk-to-work systems — with both the boat and the sea in motion.
Things go wrong when the transfer is attempted in unsafe sea states, when the crane operator mistimes the swell or mishandles the lift, when the basket, rope, or gangway is defective, or when there is no fall protection. The decision to transfer in the conditions is often the heart of the case.
Onto steel, or into the sea.
A failed transfer drops a worker onto the deck or into the water, or crushes him between the vessel and the structure — causing fractures, spinal and head injuries, drowning, and fatalities.
Who is liable.
A transfer injury usually traces to the decision to transfer in the conditions, the crane operation, or the equipment used.
Transferring in unsafe sea states or mishandling the crane is negligence by the operator or employer — Jones Act negligence for a seaman.
A defective basket, rigging, or gangway can make a vessel unseaworthy.
A vessel or contractor operating the crane can be liable under § 905(b) or the general maritime law.
A personnel basket, swing rope, or gangway system that failed can support a product claim.
The sea state and the crane don't forgive a transfer that should have waited.
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Text (713) 489-2297We build these cases by reconstructing what happened.
Doyle Dennis Avery tries catastrophic offshore-injury cases to verdict — including the $7.86 million result in Gillies v. Valaris. The firm builds these cases by reconstructing exactly how the incident happened and identifying every responsible party: the employer, the vessel, the equipment manufacturer, and the contractors on site.
If you or a family member was hurt this way offshore, the early investigation — securing the equipment, the records, and the witnesses before they scatter — is often what determines the outcome.
What the other side will argue — and how it’s met.
Personnel-transfer cases — baskets, swing ropes, gangways, walk-to-work — are unfamiliar to jurors, so the defense tries to make a botched transfer sound routine. The record usually shows otherwise.
Defective and poorly maintained equipment hides behind “operator error” constantly. The answer is the maintenance record, the prior complaints, and a marine-safety expert who can show the equipment never should have been in service.
What the company knew, and when, is provable — in emails, texts, and inspection logs. In one matter the operators were told the equipment was defective, passed word that it was “fixed,” and sent the worker out anyway.
The Jones Act uses pure comparative negligence, so a worker’s own fault reduces a recovery but never bars it — and in practice the hazard is usually the company’s, not the worker’s. In one case the firm tried, a jury found the injured worker zero percent at fault.
Insurers hire investigators to film injured workers for weeks — outside homes, at church, at a child’s school. In the firm’s experience that surveillance usually turns up nothing, while the treating physicians and the medical record carry the truth.
A transfer is a crane, a basket, and a crew — each of which can fail.
Hoisting a person between a moving boat and a platform or tanker depends on a sound crane, a proper basket, a competent operator, and a signalman who can see. When any link fails — a crane that leaks and slews only one way, a cadet at the controls, no signalman — the transfer becomes the hazard. The firm proves the standard for ship-to-ship and vessel-to-platform transfers through a marine-safety expert, and shows what the operators knew about the equipment before they sent the worker up. A defective crane that is the vessel’s only means of transfer can render the vessel unseaworthy.
When the only crane on the vessel is broken and the operators know it, the transfer was unsafe before anyone left the deck.
What to protect while it still exists.
The equipment, the crew assignments, and what the operators knew are the case — and they are controlled by the people you are suing.
Record the crane and basket used, who operated it, whether there was a signalman, and any prior reports that the equipment was defective. This is the evidence that proves the transfer was unsafe.
Tell a supervisor and make sure a written incident report is created. Federal law also requires the vessel to file a Coast Guard marine-casualty report (Form CG‑2692) for a serious injury; a missing report is itself evidence of a safety failure.
See a doctor promptly and describe exactly how the injury happened to every provider. Gaps and vague histories are the first thing the defense exploits; an honest, contemporaneous record is the backbone of the case.
You are not required to give the company’s insurer a recorded statement, and early “I’m okay” remarks get used against you. Assume you may be watched. Get advice before signing anything.
From our cases
Frequently asked questions about a personnel-transfer accident offshore
Who can be held liable for a personnel-transfer accident offshore?
Liability can fall on more than one party. A Jones Act seaman can recover from the employer for negligence and bring an unseaworthiness claim against the vessel owner; a platform worker may have claims under OCSLA and the Longshore Act; and in many cases a third party, such as an equipment manufacturer or another contractor, can be liable as well.
What causes a personnel-transfer accident offshore?
Getting from a boat to a platform, by personnel basket, swing rope, or gangway, is one of the most dangerous routine tasks offshore. Failures involve crane and vessel coordination, sea state, and inadequate procedures.
Do I have to prove someone was at fault?
Not entirely. Under the Jones Act you need only show the employer's negligence played some part, however slight, which is a very worker-friendly standard. An unseaworthiness claim requires no negligence at all, only that the vessel or its equipment was not reasonably fit. Maintenance and cure is owed to a seaman regardless of fault.
What can I recover after a personnel-transfer accident offshore?
Recovery is measured in categories rather than a fixed amount: past and future medical care, lost wages and lost earning capacity, pain and suffering, and maintenance and cure for a seaman. The total depends on the facts, so no honest lawyer can promise a number up front.
Can a third party, such as an equipment maker or contractor, be sued?
Yes. A seaman's claim against the employer runs through the Jones Act, but you can also pursue third parties who are not your employer, such as the maker of defective equipment or another contractor whose negligence contributed, through ordinary negligence or product-liability claims.
What should you do after a personnel-transfer accident offshore?
Get medical care and make sure the incident is reported in writing. If it is safe to do so, preserve the equipment and scene, photograph everything, and get witness names. Do not give a recorded statement or sign anything before talking to a lawyer.
What happens when you text us
Tell us what happened — in your own words, as much or as little as you want.
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Reach out even if…
- You think the accident was partly your fault — under the Jones Act, your own fault reduces a recovery but does not bar it.
- You already gave a statement or signed something — a release signed under pressure can be challenged.
- You still work for the company — talking to a lawyer is confidential, and retaliation for pursuing a claim can itself be actionable.
- You’re not sure your case is “big enough” — that’s exactly what a free review is for.
Catastrophic offshore injury? The investigation can’t wait.
Equipment gets repaired, records get revised, and witnesses rotate off the rig. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP moves quickly to preserve the evidence and identify every responsible party. A case review costs nothing, there is no obligation, and your employer will not know you contacted us.
This page is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The law that applies to an offshore injury — the Jones Act, the LHWCA and \u00a7 905(b), OCSLA, the general maritime law, product-liability law, or another body of law — and the parties responsible depend on the specific facts. Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome. Doyle Dennis Avery LLP · Houston, Texas. This is attorney advertising.
