Lifting, slips and trips or falls most frequents injuries at sea

A joint project analysed 12,000 injury records with a cost of $246m, and some 100,000 near miss reports from the ABS and Lamar Mariner Safety Research Initiative (MSRI) and nearly a decade of data from the American Club giving a comprehensive picture of issues of safety at sea.

Injuries sustained while lifting or in slips, trips/falls were the most frequent among those analysed accounting for 1,300 incidents costing to some $85m according to American Club. The average cost per incident exceeds $65,000: lifting incidents averaged $48,000; falls and trips averaged $88,000; slips averaged $56,000.

The results of the study have led ABS, the American Club, and Lamar University to call for higher standards in injury reporting and analysis by the industry.

“This project offers a deeper insight into how and where seafarers are being injured and also highlights what industry can do to take our understanding of safety to the next level,” said Christopher J. Wiernicki, ABS chairman, president and ceo.

Joseph Hughes, the Shipowners Claims Bureau’s chairman and ceo, “Shipping is currently navigating through a digital era in which asset owners are increasingly able to use the power of operational data to predict potential failures. As those capabilities grow, the industry would be well counselled to also get ‘smarter’ about how it compiles and uses its safety data.”

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