National commercial vessel incident report a first

The National Marine Safety Committee (NMSC) has for the first time published a national incident data analysis report for commercial vessels. NMSC compiled the report with the assistance of the marine safety agencies from around Australia.

Drawing on the availability of more accurate and recent data, the Commercial Vessel Incidents in Australia 2005-2008 report delivers information on national incidents and trends which will assist the Australian maritime industry in their safety considerations.

NMSC’s CEO, Margie O’Tarpey, is confident that the report will benefit vessel builders, regulators and operators alike with their design and operations planning.

“The report’s analysis can also help identify training and skilling needs, particularly in large marine industries like the fishing or tourism industries,” O’Tarpey said.

The study found that 2760 commercial vessel marine incidents occurred in Australia, resulting in 47 fatalities (1.8 per cent) and 783 injuries (28.4 per cent) — including 173 serious injuries.

Research Manager, Dr John Bentley considers the report an important step towards gaining a clearer picture of national safety issues for the commercial vessel industry and a marker for seeking more detailed data.

“Included in the findings was the prevalence of the passenger vessel as the most common vessel type involved in marine incidents,” Dr Bentley said.

“This result is not surprising at all as under-reporting of incidents is very common for other types of commercial vessels,” he said.

The results of the analysis also suggest that:

* Fishing vessels were more often involved in fatal incidents than other types of commercial vessels;
* Human factors were the most significant contributing factors to incidents;
* A significant number of incidents involving commercial vessels occurred between 6am and 6pm in clear weather conditions;
* The most common type of commercial vessel incident was due to collision of vessels; and,
* The least common type of incident was by loss of stability.

To obtain a copy of the full report, phone the NMSC Secretariat on (02) 9247 2124.