News Hound

The Chief Inspector writes in the MAIB Annual Report 2014, just published, as follows:
2014 was another busy year for the MAIB. Thirty-one investigations were started and 33 investigation reports were published. Two Safety Digests and three Safety Bulletins were also published. In comparison to 2013, the average time taken to complete an investigation decreased slightly from 10.9 to 10.2 months.

For the fifth year in succession no UK merchant vessels of >100gt were lost. The overall accident rate for UK merchant vessels >100gt was unchanged from 2013 at 88 per 1000 vessels. There were no crew deaths on UK merchant vessels >100gt, and a review of available records from the last 50 years suggests this has never happened before. The average number of deaths over the last 10 years is 4 per year.

Continue reading “MAIB Annual Report 2014 published”

This reports two MAIB’s investigations of the deaths of crewmen from the workboat GPS Battler while the vessel was operating in Spain.

On 13 August 2014, the vessel’s master drowned soon after the open tender returning him from the marina in Almeira to the anchored workboat was overwhelmed in choppy seas. The tender flooded rapidly and started to submerge. The master initially swam clear but soon lost consciousness and could not be revived.

On 5 January 2015, a crewman joining GPS Battler as mate fell into the water from quayside in Marin while waiting for the access arrangements to the vessel to be made safe. The mate was soon motionless and was recovered from the water by the Spanish Coastguard.

Continue reading “MAIB reports on two separate fatalities on the workboat GPS Battler”