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Number Of 'Incidents' on Inland Waterways.


Alan de Enfield

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Rooting around on the BSS website and see they do publish details of number of incidents (by type) for boats on Inland waterways.

 

 

 

Annex A – Total - 1 January to 31 December 2018  

Table A1      Basic statistics from the records

All incidents

Number of incidents recorded

132

Fire/explosion (inc immediate risk of)*

80

CO (including near incidents)

6

Pollution

0

Man Overboard

5

Personal Injury

7

Capsize, collision, grounding, stranding, sinking including lock hang-ups

34

*vessels included in multi-vessel incidents

 

 

Table A2     Serious incidents

[Note: Major injury = person treated at hospital)

Fatalities

Major injuries

Totals of boaters harmed

5

35

Explosion/fire, petrol, gas, fume ignition

3

15

Carbon Monoxide

-

6

MOB / Capsize/ collision / sinking

2

8

Other personal injuries

-

6

 

Table A3     Boat classification - Inland waterways only

[Note: Navigation = all other inc Capsize, Sinking, Grounding etc]

Fire, CO & Pollution

(54)

‘MOB & Navigation’

(46)

Pleasure and leisure

20

15

Not recorded/not known

7

16

Intensive [residential and extended use) including rented

24

5

Hire and passenger boat

0

6

Workboats / other commercial

1

4

Brokerage / renovation / under repair

1

0

Abandoned

1

0

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17 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

But not every incident gets reported to them, even fires

 

Indeed, that is a point they make in the text.

 

 

Interesting that 'electrical' and 'engine room' are the two biggest known sources of fires.

 

  

Table A4   Trends in systems & causes, Inland waterways only

[Note - All fire & CO events only]

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Totals

54

69

65

63

69

91

80

Deliberate Fire setting

5

11

5

11

12

11

11

Conflagration

3

4

5

11

3

3

5

Totals of accidental and original incidents

46

54

55

41

54

75

64

Bullseyes

-

1

0

0

0

0

0

Electrical [system / appliances]

6

7

11

7

8

15

15

Engine / engine room / exhaust

7

2

7

2

5

6

4

Flammable vapours (not yet identified)

2

7

5

4

3

3

2

Other domestic, galley, smoking, candles, etc

0

2

4

1

0

0

3

Gas escape / installed gas appliance

2

3

3

2

0

4

3

Not known [inconclusive / tbc to BSS]

18

21

10

15

27

28

21

Oil fired stoves and heaters [installed]

3

3

-

1

0

1

2

Other [inc machinery, welding, DIY, etc]

0

0

-

-

2

1

2

Petrol related – leaks, refuelling, etc

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

Portable engines / outboards / generators

0

1

-

-

2

2

0

Portable items [lpg, oil, BBQ, electric, etc]

1

0

1

-

0

2

0

Solid fuel stoves

6

6

12

7

5

13

10

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1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Indeed, that is a point they make in the text.

 

 

Interesting that 'electrical' and 'engine room' are the two biggest known sources of fires.

 

  

Table A4   Trends in systems & causes, Inland waterways only

[Note - All fire & CO events only]

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Totals

54

69

65

63

69

91

80

Deliberate Fire setting

5

11

5

11

12

11

11

Conflagration

3

4

5

11

3

3

5

Totals of accidental and original incidents

46

54

55

41

54

75

64

Bullseyes

-

1

0

0

0

0

0

Electrical [system / appliances]

6

7

11

7

8

15

15

Engine / engine room / exhaust

7

2

7

2

5

6

4

Flammable vapours (not yet identified)

2

7

5

4

3

3

2

Other domestic, galley, smoking, candles, etc

0

2

4

1

0

0

3

Gas escape / installed gas appliance

2

3

3

2

0

4

3

Not known [inconclusive / tbc to BSS]

18

21

10

15

27

28

21

Oil fired stoves and heaters [installed]

3

3

-

1

0

1

2

Other [inc machinery, welding, DIY, etc]

0

0

-

-

2

1

2

Petrol related – leaks, refuelling, etc

1

2

2

2

2

2

2

Portable engines / outboards / generators

0

1

-

-

2

2

0

Portable items [lpg, oil, BBQ, electric, etc]

1

0

1

-

0

2

0

Solid fuel stoves

6

6

12

7

5

13

10

Interesting that around a third have unknown cause

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Interesting when you compare numbers for 'coastal boats' & 'Inland Waterway boats', particularly when you consider that there are a large number of coastal boats that would / could fall within the size, or have systems  similar to those used on Inland Waterways.

 

 

1.2 - Fires and CO incidents are 54 on inland waterways and a further 32 fires on coastal waters. This is the lowest number of fire/CO incidents on inland waterways in three years.

 

The data collected cannot be considered as a complete record of incidents on any waters. Many minor incidents are not reported to any agency, let alone published. Where agencies, typically fire, ambulance or other health organisations have records of a boat related incidents, there are still likely to be only a minority of such records made public. Government records nationally suggest that fire services attend around 300-350 boat fires each year, although the definition of boats may not be consistent.

The incident data is recorded by the BSS Office.  The data includes incidents relating mostly to boats used on inland waterways.  However, incidents of fire, explosion and CO on coastal boats are recorded where the craft may be of the type that could be used inland or where the systems aboard may be common to those on inland boats.

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11 minutes ago, David Mack said:

Since the Boat Safety Scheme doesn't apply to boats used solely offshore, why would the BSS office even be aware off most incidents affecting such craft, unless other authorities draw their attention to them?

I can only assume that as they have them, they have asked for them.

 

MAIB publish the details of all incidents they are involved with.

 

 

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On a similar theme, the latest annual safety report from the Port of London Authority.

 

http://www.pla.co.uk/assets/2020annualsmsreportandmarinesafetyplanreview.pdf 

 

Some of this information underpins the advice for narrowboaters going on the tideway, for example

 

"The Breakdowns was a focus of the PLA’s social media during Maritime Safety Week.
• 40% of Inland Waterways breakdowns are caused by debris in the water – mainly ropes. ‘bin it’,
• 18% are caused by electrical faults (wiring and switch faults). ‘check it’,
• 10% by overheating (largely failed water pumps) ‘cool it’,
• 8% by fuel problems (for example blocked filters and contamination) ‘clean it’.
• A fresh campaign will be introduced in 2020 focussing on near miss reporting.?"

If you are short of things to do, there are some alarming websites, with pictures from around the world, of dodgy pilot ladders.

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