Marine Safety Regulations Save Lives
In these days of acronyms everywhere, I thought I’d give you one more. Hopefully, one that you can remember and repeat whenever appropriate: MSRSL - Marine Safety Regulations Save Lives.
Doug Rabe is the Chairman of the Marine Accident Investigators’ International Forum (MAIIF), which comprises of representatives from some 55 Administrations, and is dedicated to the advancement of maritime safety and the prevention of marine pollution. Here, Doug - who is also the Chief of the Marine Investigations Division at the US Coast Guard Headquarters - reflects on the value of marine safety regulations.
In these days of acronyms everywhere, I thought I’d give you one more. Hopefully, one that you can remember and repeat whenever appropriate: MSRSL - Marine Safety Regulations Save Lives.
Compliance with and enforcement of regulations makes a difference. Over the years, I’ve heard many complaints about the excessive cost and inconvenience (and sometimes ‘idiocy’) of safety requirements. I’ve also investigated many accidents where simple, quick, and easy compliance with existing regulations would have prevented the accident and saved many lives.
For example, the commercial fishing industry has had a poor safety record in vessel losses and fatalities. According to a study published in 1991 by the US National Research Council, during the period from 1982 through 1987, an average of 250 US commercial fishing vessels and 73 lives onboard were lost per year. In addition, an average of 35 more lives were lost per year for other reasons, such as falling overboard or accidents while working on deck.
Through the efforts of many fishing vessel safety advocates and the US Coast Guard, safety regulations were published in 1991. These regulations focused on lifesaving equipment and crew training, and were aimed at improving crew survivability after an accident. After the regulations were implemented, there was a fairly consistent average vessel loss rate of 116 per year (1994 – 1999) with an average fatality rate related to those vessel losses of about 37 per year.
Following several commercial fishing vessel losses in 1999, the US Coast Guard launched a vigorous effort to educate the commercial fishing industry about the regulations and greatly stepped up enforcement of the regulations.
As a result, for the period 2000 through 2004, vessel losses remained roughly the same at an average of 120 per year, but the average number of fatalities related to those vessel losses dropped from 37 to 23. Included in that average is the loss of the ARCTIC ROSE with 15 deaths – the single highest death toll US fishing vessel accident in 50 years. Neverthe- less, the numbers speak for themselves – pre-regulation, 73 deaths per year, post- regulation, 23 deaths per year.
This is proof positive that the regulations specifically targeted at saving crewmembers’ lives after an accident have worked exactly as intended.
For more information about the work of MAIIF, go to: www.maiif.net