M/V LTC John U.D. Page, one of two Maersk Line, Limited-operated ammunition prepositioning ships in Military Sealift Command's Prepositioning Program, marked a safety milestone on December 28, 2008, as the ship's crew celebrated seven years of operations without suffering a lost time accident (LTA).
An LTA is defined as an accident that results in a crew member sustaining an injury requiring him or her to miss at least one shift of work. The number of LTAs occurring aboard a ship are a maritime industry standard for measuring safety performance.
M/V Page is named for LTC John U.D. Page, a U.S. Army officer who earned the Medal of Honor for his actions at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War in 1950.
Extended time periods operating LTA-free are a key safety goal among the ships in the MLL fleet. Page’s sister ship, M/V SSG Edward A. Carter, JR, the other MLL-operated ammunition prepositioning ship in MSC's Prepositioning Program has been operating for six years without an LTA. Carter and Page are among the seven MLL owned or operated ships that have been operating for at least six years without an LTA, including: USNS Effective (7 years), USNS Impeccable (6 years), M/V CPL Louis J. Hauge (6 years), M/V Maersk Rhode Island (6 years) and M/V Maersk Tennessee (6 years).
Preventing LTAs through constant care, awareness, and safety education is a key component of MLL's company-wide safety program, "Drive to Zero." The program's name is derived from its stated goal of ensuring shipboard safety by striving to eliminate all accidents. MLL operates more than 50 ocean-going ships compiling more than 20,000 ship-days of operations annually.