A series of accidents at ports around the world highlights the serious global safety problems facing port workers

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Over the past week, a series of industrial accidents in some of the world's busiest ports have highlighted significant safety problems in the world's shipping infrastructure.

In the late morning hours of August 9, an American crane operator suffered minor injuries at the ITS port of Long Beach, California, after the crane cabin in which he was working broke loose from its support and fell 12 meters onto a cargo ship below.

The crane operator, known on TikTok as Crane Daddy, is expected to make a full recovery from his injuries. However, it is abundantly clear that this incident could have been much worse, even fatal. Had the crane operator disconnected where there was no load beneath him, he could have fallen more than 100 feet.

On the same day, a container with hazardous materials exploded on the YM Mobility, while docked at the port of Ningbo-Zhoushan in China.