Pilot Ladder Safety: SOLAS V/23, the Boarding Check, and When to Refuse

Pilots are killed and seriously injured boarding and disembarking ships more than in any other part of the job. The equipment is simple — a rope ladder, steps, spreaders, a manrope — which is exactly why non-conformities are so common and so dangerous. This guide covers the rules that govern pilot transfer arrangements, the practical check a pilot runs before trusting a ladder with their body weight, and how to turn a refusal into a documented decision.

The rules that apply

Two instruments do most of the work:

• SOLAS Regulation V/23 — Pilot transfer arrangements. Sets the mandatory requirements for the rigging, position, maintenance, and certification of pilot boarding equipment.
• IMO Resolution A.1045(27) (as amended) — the detailed recommendation on how pilot transfer arrangements should be constructed and rigged.

Flag administrations and port states enforce these, and a non-conforming arrangement is grounds for a pilot to refuse boarding. The standard is not aspirational; it is the baseline a ship must meet before a human is asked to climb it at sea.

The practical pre-boarding check

Before committing weight to the ladder, the working items a pilot confirms — from the boat and again on deck — include:

• Ladder condition — steps level, evenly spaced, undamaged; side ropes intact, no splices in the run; no missing or makeshift steps.
• Securing — secured to strong points, not to rails; the ladder leads through a freeing port or over the side clear of obstructions.
• Spreaders — fitted where required to prevent twist; not resting on the steps a pilot will use.
• Height of climb — within the arrangement's design; a combination arrangement (accommodation ladder plus pilot ladder) rigged correctly when the freeboard demands it.
• Manropes — properly rigged and reachable, of the correct diameter, where used.
• Lighting — the area over the side adequately lit for a night boarding.
• Attendance — a responsible officer at the point of access, with a heaving line, lifebuoy and light to hand, in radio contact with the bridge.
• Trapdoor and bulwark arrangements — handholds and steps continuous and secure at the point of access.

The non-conformities that recur

The same defects show up year after year in pilot organization reports:

1. Ladders secured to the rails instead of to strong points.
2. Steps resting on a spreader, so the climber's weight is taken by the wrong member.
3. Excessive distance between the ladder bottom and the pilot boat, or a combination arrangement rigged at the wrong height.
4. Missing attendance — no officer at the access point.
5. Frayed side ropes, splices, or makeshift repairs in the load-bearing run.
6. Inadequate lighting for a night transfer.

Any one of these is a defensible reason to stay on the boat.

Making "refuse" a decision, not a moment

The hard part of refusal is not the rule — it is the pressure. The ship is on a tide, the agent is waiting, and the pilot is the only person saying no. The way to protect that decision is to make it a documented, procedural act rather than an individual's gut call in the moment.

In practice that means a standard checklist the pilot runs every time, with each item marked conforming or not, and a refusal that creates a record — what was deficient, when, and on which vessel. Binnacle Passage builds the SOLAS V/23 / A.1045 checklist into the transit: the pilot marks each item pass, fail, or N/A, a failure raises a deficiency, and "refuse boarding" is captured against the vessel and the transit. The next time that ship calls, the prior deficiency is on the record.

That record does three things: it backs the pilot's decision, it gives the association a pattern across ships and operators, and it gives the port state something concrete when a vessel is a repeat offender.

The bottom line

The ladder is the cheapest piece of equipment in the entire transit and the one most likely to hurt someone. Treat the pre-boarding check as a hard gate, standardize it so no item is skipped, and make refusal a recorded act rather than a lonely judgment. Pair it with a complete Master-Pilot Exchange once aboard, and the two riskiest minutes of the job are both covered by procedure.

This article is informational. Always follow SOLAS V/23, IMO A.1045(27), your flag/port state requirements, and your association's procedures.