By
Kuba Szymanski |
Lifeboats are meant to save lives, aren’t they? Yet figures collated by InterManager over more than 40 years reveal that lifeboats and rescue craft have been responsible for the deaths of some 540 people.
These figures span the entire maritime industry but, delving deeper, we can see that 15 per cent of these accidents happened onboard cruise ships. When you consider that cruise is the smallest sector of the maritime industry in terms of the number of ships – 600 vessels versus 12,000 container ships, a similar number of bulk carriers, and around 10,000 tankers – then this figure is quite alarming. In addition, ro-ro ferries account for a five per cent share of lifeboat accidents.
So, what’s going wrong? Can lifeboats, an essential item of life-saving equipment onboard ships, really be inherently dangerous?
Some years ago, InterManager became aware of increasing concerns from ship managers and seafarers regarding the level of accident fatalities and serious injuries caused by lifeboats. We began researching the issue and discovered there was no central record of lifeboat accidents, so as a member of the International Lifeboat Group, we started to collate them, going back in maritime records as far as 1980.
When we analysed these statistics, we identified that the majority of these accidents occur during mandatory lifeboat drills and involve seafarers. The biggest root cause is design failure – most commonly failure of the release mechanism, hooks and wires.
This concern is now fairly well-known among many crew members and they are understandably reluctant to undertake lifeboat testing. Who would want to risk their life in the process of testing a piece of supposed safety equipment?
Recognising that legislative change was needed, InterManager has worked closely with a range of maritime stakeholders to fully research the issue, and together we have raised the matter with the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) was first adopted in 1914 in response to the 1912 Titanic disaster, where there were famously insufficient lifeboats for the number of passengers onboard. Lifeboats are covered under Chapter III of SOLAS, which incorporates requirements for life-saving appliances and arrangements, including those for lifeboats, rescue boats and life jackets according to the type of ship. The International Life-Saving Appliance (LSA) Code gives specific technical requirements for life-saving appliances and is mandatory under Regulation 34. This states that all life-saving appliances and arrangements shall comply with the applicable requirements of the LSA Code.
SOLAS regulation III/19.3.3.3 mandates each lifeboat to be launched at least once every three months during an ‘abandon ship’ drill and manoeuvred in the water by its assigned operating crew. However, the regulation does not require that crew to be onboard when the lifeboat is launched. This is because many of the lifeboat fatalities have occurred during launch of the lifeboats, often due to problems with the hooks.
In 2009, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee agreed that the assigned operating crew should not be obligated to be onboard lifeboats during launching, unless the master, within the authority conferred to him/her by paragraph 5.5 of the International Safety Management Code, considers it necessary, taking into account all safety aspects. InterManager and other shipping industry groups have raised awareness of this amendment among flag state inspectors.
Work to improve lifeboat safety continues. In May 2024, the IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee adopted amendments to the LSA Code in relation to lifeboat single fall and hook systems and the lowering speed of survival craft and rescue boats. These amendments are expected to enter into force on 1 January 2026 and will apply both to passenger vessels and merchant ships.
InterManager will continue to take a leading role on this issue, ensuring that lifeboats do indeed save lives as intended.
Captain Kuba Szymanski is secretary general of InterManager
This article was first published in the Autumn/Winter 2024 issue of Cruise & Ferry Review. All information was correct at the time of printing, but may since have changed. Subscribe for FREE to get the next issue delivered directly to your inbox.