SAFETY
Deathboat Drills
The fact that seafarers are still being killed by lifeboat accidents is a
tragic indictment of an industry which is perhaps unable (or unwilling) to get
its house in order. Last month saw five crew members from the cruise ship
"Thomson Majesty" killed when a drop cable snapped during a drill, causing the
lifeboat to fall more than 50 ft. into the sea.
A total of eight seafarers were inside the lifeboat at the time of the
accident, the worst lifeboat casualty of recent years. It is far from an
isolated incident, and comes on top of a record of previous accidents that have
provoked concern and bitter arguments.
In 2001, the UK's Marine Accident and Investigation Branch issued a safety
study which stated: "MAIB inspectors have become increasingly worried by the
relatively high number of accidents involving ships' lifeboat launch systems,
many of which have resulted in people being killed or injured. The MAIB
suggests that anyone using a lifeboat, be it in a drill or a genuine
evacuation, runs the risk of being injured or killed."
The IMO Maritime Safety Committee amended regulations to the UN Convention on
the Safety of Life at Sea regarding lifeboat release hook mechanisms in April
2011.
Under the amendments, owners were required to ensure that ships are equipped
with safer on-load release mechanisms and replace existing release hooks that
do not comply with the new Life Saving Appliances code by January 2019.
The amendments came under strong criticism from key shipping organisations
which argued that the new measures were not progressive enough. Maritime union
Nautilus said it had been campaigning for several years for changes to be made
to the way drills are operated, as well as to the design of lifeboats. They
said, "It's frustrating that we are still seeing so many accidents and that the
message just isn't getting through."
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) echoed the frustrations
about the, "sad and awful accident". The ITF once again raised concerns about
the dreadful irony that such an accident should occur during a drill whose
whole reason is to supposedly safeguard lives.
Such accidents are all too common, and dramatically show that this is a
recurring problem which needs fixing but it seems there are some barriers to
progress perhaps the industry hasn't seen enough seafarers killed during
lifeboat drills? It certainly seems that way.
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