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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Unseaworthiness and The Jones Act

Seamen are protected if they are injured on the ship, but what happens if the are injured on a boat or launch going to and from the ship. Most legal minds agree that the Jones Act employer is still liable.

The SIU contract contains provision on "Launch Service" which provides that when a ship is anchored or tied to a buoy the crew is entitled at company expense to one round trip every 24 hrs and more importantly that "the master shall use his own judgement and if in his opinion the conditions are not safe, he shall not provide launch service."

Even without that provision, a shipowner has a duty to protect seamen from all the hazards they experience while doing their jobs, whether the hazard occurs on or off the ship.