140 VIEWPOINT 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 By Captain Kuba Szymanski, InterManager Why lifeboat safety must be taken seriously Although they are designed to save lives, lifeboats have caused many fatalities over the years. InterManager is working with the IMO and other industry stakeholders to prevent future accidents Percentage of lifeboat accidents according to vessel type Source: InterManager 26% 11% 15% 8% 7% 16% 2% 6% 5% 3% 1% Unknown vessel type Bulk Cruise General cargo Container Oil tanker Gas tanker RIG Ro-ro Supply/offshore service vessel Naval Training facility (0%)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=