A CHIEF officer broke both his ankles in an accident on board a cargo ship in Southampton – keeping him off work for a year, an inquiry heard.

The man was taken to hospital after falling more than two metres and landing on his feet.

The man had been helping to lift a motor yacht off the German ship Norjan after docking in Southampton in June 2014.

The ship had been carrying three privately owned motor yachts to deliver to Southampton and the cargo operation had been organised by specialised transportation firm Peters and May Ltd, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency Accident Investigation Branch has reported.

The chief officer was acting as the ship's cargo officer and was supervising the operation in consultation with the loadmaster.

During the final stages of loading the first motor yacht the loadmaster asked the chief officer to check and adjust the yacht's alignment with its cradles.

To do this, the chief officer went to the back of the yacht, which was close to an unfenced edge of the hatch cover, and grabbed hold of its rudder.

Once the yacht was lowered the chief officer went to return to his previous position on the deck but as he did so he stumbled and lost his balance.

Realising that he was about to fall off the hatch cover, he twisted his body and moved himself to land feet first on the deck 2.4m below.

The chief officer suffered multiple fractures to both of his ankles on impact, and was unable to return to work for 12 months.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency found access to the hatch covers was "unnecessarily difficult".

It has since ordered a collection of simple design improvements including painting a yellow hazard warning around the outer edges of all hatch covers and adding fabricated portable safety railings, made to fit into the container deck sockets, to allow the crew to fence off danger zones.

A spokesman from the agency said: "There were several trip hazards close to where the chief officer had been standing and the surface of the hatch cover was slightly uneven, but no-one saw him fall and it is uncertain what caused him to stumble.

"Having fallen, the chief officer was injured because there was nothing in place to arrest his fall. Had the chief officer not been able to twist his body and position himself to land feet first on a clear section of deck, it is likely that he'd have suffered a more serious injury."