2nd rescue boat safety warning issued by UK

A second Safety Bulletin was recently issued by the UK Marine Accident Safety Bureau (MAIB) about a deadly rescue boat davit failure.

At approximately 3:50 p.m. on February 7, 2011 during a routine rescue boat drill aboard the Wilhelmsen Lines UK-flagged car carrier Tonbarra, the davit fall wire parted. The boat and its four crew instantly dropped almost 29 meters (approx 90 feet) into the water alongside the Royal Portbury Docks in Bristol, UK.

One person was killed and two others were taken to the hospital. How the fourth person managed to escape serious injury is not addressed in the Bulletin.

According to the MAIB report, the proximity switch, which was supposed to cut power to the winch motor before the boat reached the davit stops, failed to function.

An inspection revealed that the switch body had been penetrated by water but the report said that an unrelated electrical fault caused the malfunction.

The first Safety Bulletin addressed the fact that the rescue boat was nearly 1,000 pounds over the safe working load.

The report addressed the “potential catastrophic consequences” of the switch failure—along with other warnings and recommendations—which you can read about in MAIB Safety Bulletin 2/2011in our article library here.

Source: MAIB