The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has issued its annual casualty and incident report, providing information on what kept the branch busy during 2014.
The report notes that in 2014, 1,270 accidents (casualties and incidents) were reported to MAIB involving 1,470 vessels. Of those, 33 accident involved only non-commercial vessels, 424 were occupational accidents that did not involve any actual or potential casualty to a vessel.
There were also 822 accident involving 953 commercial vessels that involved actual or potential casualties to vessels.
In the Chief Inspector’s Report, Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents Steve Clinch said that 31 investigations were started and 33 investigation reports were published, as well as two Safety Digests and three Safety Bulletins.
Clinch noted that for the fifth straight year, no UK merchant vessels of more than 100gt were lost in 2014 and the overall accident rate for such vessels was unchanged from 2013 at 88 per 1,000 vessels. There were also no crew deaths on UK merchant vessels of more than 100gt – the first time this has happened since record-keeping began 50 years ago.
For vessels less than 100gt however, five crew lost their lives – including four fatalities in a single accident when the yacht Cheeki Rafiki suffered a detached keel and capsized in the North Atlantic.
Twelve commercial fishing vessels were lost in 2014 compared with 18 in 2013, below the 10-year average of 19 vessels per year. Eight fishermen also lost their lives in 2014 compared with only four lives lost in 2013. The average number of fishermen who lost their lives over the last 10 years is 8.5, the report said.
In addition, 59 recommendations were issued during 2014 to 63 addressees, with 88.8% being accepted compared with 96.7% in 2013.
In addition to the Chief Inspector of Marine Accident’s report for 2014, the report includes an overview of accidents reported, a summary of investigations started, details of investigation reports published, responses to recommendations issued and marine accident statistics.
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