Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring Company Inc.

A longshoreman was in Hold #2 preparing to discharge cargo. The pontoon decking did not fully cover leaving an open hole from the lower tween deck of a ship into a lower hold area (approximately 32 feet). The employee fell through the open area. He admitted to the hospital with a head injury (swelling and bleeding), broken ribs, a shattered elbow and heel, fractured vertebrae and a fractured leg.