Legal Definitions - active-operations duty

The active-operations duty is a principle in maritime law that requires a shipowner to provide and maintain safe working conditions for longshoremen in those areas of the ship that are under the shipowner's direct control or active management during the loading or unloading of cargo. This duty applies when the shipowner or their crew is actively involved in, or directly overseeing, specific operations, or has immediate control over a particular part of the vessel where longshoremen are working. It emphasizes the shipowner's ongoing responsibility for safety in the spaces they are actively managing or influencing during cargo operations.

• Example 1: Ship's Crane Operation

  Imagine a scenario where a ship's crew member is operating the vessel's onboard crane to lift heavy containers from the dock and lower them into the ship's hold. Longshoremen are working inside the hold, guiding these containers into their final positions. If the ship's crew operates the crane negligently, causing a container to swing dangerously or drop unexpectedly, and a longshoreman is injured as a result, the shipowner could be found in breach of its active-operations duty. This is because the shipowner, through its crew, was actively controlling a piece of equipment and an operation that directly impacted the safety of the longshoremen in an area under the ship's control.

• Example 2: Deck Maintenance During Loading

  Consider a situation where longshoremen are busy securing cargo on the ship's main deck. Simultaneously, the ship's engineering crew decides to perform an urgent repair on a hydraulic line in an adjacent walkway, creating a significant oil spill that is not immediately cleaned up or cordoned off. A longshoreman, unaware of the spill, walks through the area and slips, sustaining an injury. Here, the shipowner, through its crew, was actively engaged in an operation (the repair) within an area of the ship under its control. By creating a new hazard and failing to mitigate it, the shipowner would have violated its active-operations duty to ensure the safety of the working environment for the longshoremen.

• Example 3: Controlling Access to a Hazardous Area

  Suppose longshoremen are working in a specific cargo hold that contains a section with exposed machinery, which the ship's crew has temporarily covered with a flimsy tarp. The ship's crew is responsible for controlling access to this particular hazardous section. If the crew fails to properly secure the area, or if they remove the tarp without warning the longshoremen, leading to a longshoreman falling into the machinery, the shipowner would be liable under the active-operations duty. This is because the shipowner, through its crew, had direct control over a specific hazardous area and the responsibility to manage access and safety within it while longshoremen were working nearby.