Regulations are written in blood. It has always been so.
The NTSB have made recommendations, up till now there hasn’t been enough blood. To prompt regulations to change or to increase enforcement.
Perhaps this high profile incident will prompt some changes.
Small craft have regulations vary from virtually none for pleasure vessels and small fishing or small vessels depending upon jurisdiction.
In some ways the US has much more regulatory oversight than other jurisdiction.
40 or 50 years ago. The buck stopped with the Master. Industry wide.
Incidents like Amoco Cadiz, Herald of Free Enterprise and Exon Valdez have led to the belief the managers and owners bear some responsibility as well. The ISM code was supposed to connect the office to the ship.
Instead many ISM systems are written to cover the managerial ass.
While increased calls for more enforcement is directed to the ship board seafarers.
Recent tragic events with duck boats and this tour boat may well highlight the requirement for greater connection of shore based owners and operators to ensure there vessels are up to the required standards. Particularly since the requirements for qualified crew are relatively minimal.
The failings here on this vessel are fire safety the duck boats it was watertight integrity stability and operational limitations with weather forecasting or predictions of sea state.
Most of the worlds vessels are required to meet class rules and are inspected by classification societies rather than by direct inspection.
When this proved insufficient port state control was introduced.
This incident may well show changes are required across the board.
While it is to early to say what caused this incident. Indeed we may never know what caused this incident. The lithium battery is just pure guesswork.
I think most of us can reasonably conclude with the benefits of hindsight. This particular vessel’s passenger accommodation was a death trap.
Statements the vessel was inspected and met all the requirements. Indicate the requirements and inspections were woefully inadequate.
Clearly they need to change.
The barn door is now being closed even though the horses have bolted.
It has always worked this way.
Only if the investigation proves that. Owners always make such statements in the face of an incident. The investigation tests it—clearly there is one glaring non-compliance issue that so monstrously stands out against any and all related possible causes or shortfalls it may not even be capable to parse inadequacy of the regulations when compared to lax watchstanding impact considering it affects detection, intervention, response, evac.
The board faulted the Coast Guard for failing to adopt a preventive maintenance program.
“This is just absurd,” NTSB Chairman Sumwalt said during a two-hour hearing
After the 1993 loss of the El Toro II fishing charter with 23 people aboard and the drowning of 13 people in 1999 aboard the Miss Majestic duck boat, the Coast Guard’s highest-level inquiry found that its inspectors had lacked necessary knowledge and had failed to notice critical missing parts on the vessels.
a Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s report found the Coast Guard did not have “adequate processes to investigate, take corrective actions and enforce federal regulations related to the reporting of marine accidents.”
“[quote=“Kennebec_Captain, post:43, topic:53321”]
From the LA times article:
The board faulted the Coast Guard for failing to adopt a preventive maintenance program.
“This is just absurd ,” NTSB Chairman Sumwalt said during a two-hour hearing
[/quote]
This quote is out of context in the article as cited, suggesting he was commenting on the CG—-Context from the actual quote given during the Board of investigation of Island Lady casino boat fire:
“NTSB chairman Robert Sumwalt was outraged that the company had not learned any lessons from an incident in 2004 when another one of its boats caught fire in similar circumstances in almost exactly the same location — the difference on this occasion was its negligence proved fatal.
“This is just absurd,” said Sumwalt during a two-hour hearing in Washington. “This person who died was a single mother. She left behind a pair of twins, a boy and a girl who were 12 years old, who now do not have parents.
“And here is a company that had the opportunity to learn from a tragedy in 2004. And they did absolutely nothing. And after it happened twice, what have they done? This is absolutely absurd,” he said.
Just remember that when you are talking about regulations applying to vessels under 100 GRT you are still including vessels like this. Its not all little dive boatsand 6 packs.
Can I suggest the solution is not “more” regulation, but better regulation.
As I understand it, the only access, egress from the sleeping accommodation was via the galley. A galley is a potential source of fire having cooking equipment and flamable materials such as cooking oil. Safety relied on a fallable system of someone staying awake all night. It seems this accident could have been avoided if the regulations were written so as that access via a potential source of fire was not allowed. Even if the watchkeeper falls asleep, people can still get out.
In ths case, I suggest the regulators have a responsibility under the circumstances.
They weren’t overwhelmed with choices given how crammed in they were. The only practical alternative I can see would be through the engine room bulkhead and then up, but not clear how the e/r was laid out.
Seems to me they were trying to put a quart of shit in a pint pot,
Coming in late on this thread but totally disagree that ‘Law enforcement and SAR go hand in hand’ -they are separate and need to stay that way. The issue with the USCG is that it is poacher and gamekeeper and as has been said before on here, as part of any NTSB investigation, they investigate themselves which is not clever.
Lithium-ion batteries have been prohibited in aircraft cargo holds since 2016 following dangerous incidents. The Vision, belonging to the same fleet as the Conception, had a lithium-ion battery fire a year ago and the fire was kept from spreading when a crew member tossed the battery over the side.
The CG’s lack of a more forceful response following the ban and the Conception crew’s lack of a night watch take on a new meaning.
Thinking more I may have overstated it – I’m sure USCG has various assets that are devoted entirely to SAR or to enforcement. But the basic requirement of having boats/ships at sea or stationed on the shore seems to me the same for both uses, so if you separated the organizations you’d need a lot more hulls.
Law enforcement and SAR folks are field personnel using boats and aircraft to do their job. Regulation folks and inspectors are administrators using pen, paper and computers do theirs.
Ahh, by law enforcement you mean, border patrol etc. In the UK, for Maritime, law enforcement is what I think you call inspection… Border patrol (UK Border Force) etc is a separate agency hence the confusion…Thanks for clarifying!
I should think that it is fairly easy to overload a power boards with 110 volt supply and many I have seen are very flimsy. Is there a mandatory standard for them? Our standard electrical outlet is 230 volt with a 10 amp RCD and power boards have a circuit breaker incorporated with only four outlets. Four of Anything that could be carried into the mess room for charging would be unlikely to overload it.
Ours are 120V (half of a center-tapped 240V feed in houses, with 240V outlets for big appliances) with breakers sized to the wire size/socket configuration. Regular household outlets are 15A with 14-ga (2.08 mm^2) and 20A with 12-ga (3.31 mm^2). The 20A socket will accept 15A plugs, but not vise versa. RCDs (we call them GFCIs) have been standard in bathrooms for many years, and are being used more and more in new construction (but have nothing to do with overloads).
So different details, but very much the same idea.
Border patrol is separate. The USCG enforces Maritime law, conducts vessel boardings, and does drug interdiction (catches smugglers operating by water). They do assist with border protection if they catch vessels smuggling people, etc.
We have here 230v for lighting and simple appliances and ∛ x 230v = 398v ≈ 400v three phase for power appliances such as the four electric and halogen cookers. I have only one RCD which is cumbersome after sunset as if there is anywhere a current leakage of more than 30mA it plunges the house in almost total darkness. My son’s newer house has three RCD’s which is the new standard and that is quite an improvement.
