Accident inspector rails at lack of black boxes

Citation

Grey, M. (2001), "Accident inspector rails at lack of black boxes", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 10 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2001.07310bab.004

Accident inspector rails at lack of black boxes

Accident inspector rails at lack of black boxes

Accident investigators are "severely hampered" by the failure of the shipping industry to fit "black box" data recorders to its ships, the UK's chief inspector of marine accidents, Rear Admiral John Lang, has said. Writing in the Marine Accident Investigation Branch 1999 Annual Report, he suggests that until such voyage data recorders are fitted to all commercial and fishing craft, "we will never identify many of the reasons why accidents happen at sea".

Necessary measures

He strongly recommends "that the International Maritime Organisation, where the matter is being considered, takes the necessary measures without delay to ensure that the equipment is fitted in all new construction vessels". The branch, which has been criticised for the time it takes to produce reports after a marine accident, once again failed to meet a number of its targets, notably that which would see a report reaching the secretary of state within 12 months of an accident. The chief inspector notes that his department remains two inspectors short of full strength. With each of the five main grade inspectors conducting on average five investigations at a time, only one new investigation is likely to cause delays. During the year the staff was increased by three, including the addition of a naval architect inspector.

The branch operated over budget with total costs of £1,205,183 ($1,824,376). In the coming year costs of investigating and retrieving the wreck of the fishing vessel Solway Harvester will be a major item.

The branch received 1,418 accident and incident reports in 1999. There were 636 which required follow-up enquiries. At the start of 1999 there were 30 enquiries under way and a further 35 were started during 1999. There were 39 of these completed. In his foreword to the report, Admiral Lang pointed out that there had been a reduction in the number of incidents reported to the branch, which he fears is due to a reluctance to report accidents in the mistaken belief that doing so will incur penalties.

Michael Grey

Lloyd's Casualty Week, Vol. 321 No. 3, 14 July 2000