Includes the incidental use of power-driven escalators or conveyors, or operation of tractors and trailers through side ports.  No use of hoisting equipment.  Code 7317F shall not be assigned to the same risk in connection with a single vessel.

Code 7317F applies to employers engaged in stevedoring operations performed by hand or hand trucks.  It includes the incidental use of power-driven escalators, conveyors, and forklifts.

Stevedoring for workers compensation classification purposes contemplates any or all of the following operations when conducted by employees who are not members of the crews of vessels:

1. Loading or unloading, stowing, shifting or trimming of cargo, supplies, and materials on board vessels.  (Trimming refers to balancing a ship by shifting cargo.)
2. Transfer of cargo supplies and materials between vessels and piers and vice versa, regardless of the necessity of work on board vessels by employees of the employer.
3. Transfer between stringpiece and point of deposit on dock and adjacent warehouses including tiering, sorting and breaking down.  (A stringpiece is timber lying along the top of piles, forming a dock front or timber pier.)
4. Operation of all mechanical equipment, including dock tractors, in connection with the above.

This classification additionally contemplates the loading or unloading of grain, cement, or other bulk pulverized materials or liquefied products when done by blower or suction tubes or pipe and hose conveyor systems.

When separate crews of employees place cargo at or move it from the point of deposit and perform tiering, sorting, and breaking down operations as well as loading or unloading railroad cars or trucks, such separate crews would be assigned to the appropriate freight handling and trucking classifications provided they do not engage in any stevedoring operations and separate payroll records are maintained.

In the event stevedoring by hand or hand trucks and stevedoring by use of hoisting equipment are performed in connection with the loading or unloading of a single vessel, the entire operation must be classified to either Code 7309F “Stevedoring — NOC” or, if the operation involves containerized freight, to Code 7327F “Stevedoring – Containerized Freight & Drivers.”

When an employer is classified to this classification, employees engaged in the storage, maintenance, or repair of nets, slings, forklift trucks, or other equipment utilized by stevedoring concerns are also assigned to this classification, even if such operations are conducted at a separate location.  Code 7317F is additionally applicable to employees of Code 7317F employers that handle shore lines to moor or unmoor vessels.

Stevedoring operations are also considered general exclusions.  This means that unless stevedoring operations are specifically included in the wording of the basic classification applicable to a business, stevedoring operations are separately classified.  This situation may occur when an employer such as a manufacturer, lumberyard or fuel dealer is located on navigable waters.  Such employers may load their products on ships or unload raw materials or finished products from ships.  In many instances this work is done at irregular periods by employees normally engaged in plant operations.  Payroll expended for such loading or unloading on navigable waters should be assigned to the appropriate stevedoring classification.

Driving automobiles on or off vessels is additionally contemplated by this classification.