The Bahamas Maritime Authority (BMA) has issued a Marine Notice to address the issue of lifeboat safety which has been the focus of considerable efforts over several years at the International Maritime Organization.
In that regard, amendments have been made to SOLAS Chapter III to improve lifeboat safety (e.g. new Regulation 1.5 of SOLAS Chapter III, which entered into force on 01 January 2013 and amendments to Regulation 20 of SOLAS Chapter III, which entered into force on 01 January 2020).
Important factors to enhance the safety of lifeboats and release hooks include:
- maintenance and inspections must be carried out by a competent person to procedures that reflect the manufacturers’ instructions;
- maintenance and inspections must be recorded to provide objective evidence that these have been carried out according to manufacturer’s instructions;
- the quality of crew training and familiarisation are directly affected by the frequency and quality of the drills carried out;
planning is essential to ensure drills are performed safely; - drills should be realistic but must not be hurried when familiarisation or other training is taking place;
- a crew debrief after each drill is essential to emphasise lessons learned or to give additional training where necessary
In view of the need to safely verify satisfactory operation of lifeboat launching equipment that is not in frequent use, it is recommended that, where possible, lifeboats are initially lowered and recovered without any crew on board during drills.
…BMA highlights.
The Flag Administration adds that careful observation of the lifeboat during every recovery operation should be made, in particular when near the davit heads as the boat may swing on a short pendulum during the later stages of recovery. This may happen when the speed of the winch is slowed or the boat is run out in order to ensure proper return to the davits or run out to the embarkation position after an empty deployment.
10 common failures resulting to lifeboat accidents
Lifeboat accidents have been attributed to multiple categories of failure, including:
- failure of on-load release gear (OLR);
- inadvertent operation of OLR mechanism;
- inadequate maintenance of lifeboats, davits and launching equipment;
- incorrect supply and fitting of equipment, not in accordance with manufacturer requirements;
- inadequate inspections including failure to identify defective equipment;
- communication failure;
- lack of familiarity with lifeboats, davits, equipment and associated controls;
- inadequate training impacting safe operation of equipment;
- unsafe practices during lifeboat drills and inspections;
- design faults other than OLR.
Inadvertent operation, or incomplete engagement of the locking mechanism prior to hoisting, is of particular concern as a clear result of the dangers of crew unfamiliarity with OLR.
