The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its annual report for 2023. The report indicates that the MAIB received 1,592 reports of marine accidents and incidents involving UK vessels or those operating within UK waters, according to Safety4sea.
Safety Issues
The investigations started in 2023 represent a fairly broad spread of safety issues but two accidents stand out. The first was the girting of the tug Biter in February while assisting the Hebridean Princess, which resulted in the deaths of the skipper and deckhand. As Azimuth Stern Drive and Voith-propelled tugs have become more common there has been a tendency to relegate conventional tugs to tasks such as cold moves or shifting barges. However, when conventional tugs are involved in ship-assist towage the risks today are the same as they always were.
According to UK MAIB, the report into this tragic accident should be published later this autumn and will be accompanied by a short safety video that stresses the importance of using a gob rope on conventional tugs to mitigate the risks of girting. The second was the collision between the general cargo vessel Verity and the bulk carrier Polesie in the German Bight traffic separation scheme that resulted in Verity sinking with the loss of five crew.
Commercial Fishing vessels
There is a temptation to measure safety in the fishing industry by the annual tally of fatalities. Each death is a tragedy, and fortunately, there are few of them; four lives were lost in 2023. This is below six, the average number of fatalities per year over the last decade. However, the year-to-year variation is significant, making it hard to determine a firm trend. A better metric for measuring fishing safety should be the total number of accidents reported to MAIB each year.
Twice in the last year, the branch has been contacted by lawyers supporting fishers pursuing personal injury claims, but we have found no record of their accident. In both cases, the injuries were significant, would have required hospital treatment, and the individuals had to give up their careers in fishing.
Recommendations
27 recommendations were issued to 16 distinct addressees in 2023. The percentage of all recommendations that are either accepted and implemented or accepted, yet to be implemented, is 96.3%.
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Source: UK Gov
