RIB seating in focus following accident
The MAIB conducted trials following the incident.
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published recommendations together with a safety flyer on the potential dangers of operating high speed RIBs.
This follows an accident involving a passenger suffering a back injury where inappropriate seating arrangements was identified as a factor.
The accident involved a RIB employed to transfer nine people, including the helmsman, from a pier to two jack-up barges working on a tidal river. Four of those on board occupied fitted seats while the remaining five took up positions elsewhere, including seated on the sponsons and on a locker forward of the helmsman’s console.
The passenger seated on the locker re-positioned his rucksack from his back to his chest during the highspeed passage to the barge. There were no hand-holds or foot straps in this location and he alternated his grip between a vertical stanchion on the helmsman’s console and the lip of the locker.
The motion experienced during the passage resulted in the person being frequently lifted bodily from the locker but he was unable to alert the helmsman to his discomfort. After feeling an intense pain in his lower back he took up a position on the forward deck whereupon the boat was stopped and assistance provided by one of his co-workers.
Following a slow speed passage to a nearby lifeboat station pier he was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with anterior wedge fractures to two lumber vertebrae. He was off work for over four months and still receiving treatment some eight months later.
Between 2001 and 2008 the MAIB were aware of 28 similar accidents and the investigation looked into a number of areas including: the human aspects associated with the engineering and design of the seating arrangements, the relevant boat handling training, operating procedures, maintenance, speed limit at the location and the licencing arrangements of such craft by the port authority.
Finding that the injured person was unable to maintain the correct posture necessary to prevent injury, the report also includes details of research carried out into the effects on the body, particularly the back, of such travel and the developments in seat design. It states that manufacturers, owners and operators of RIBs should note the potential of injuries due to vibration and shock impacts associated with such craft and also addresses the issue of the training of RIB helmsmen.
Actions taken by various parties involved include internal investigations and changes to procedures by the RIB’s owner and operator, an internal investigation and review of the licencing regime by the port authority (the legal process to introduce a speed limit in the areas has commenced), revision of the syllabi for powerboat training courses by the accredited training organisation and planned revisions to, and additional Marine Guidance Notes by, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The full report including the flyer and annexes containing expert observations concerning the injury involved in this accident and other relevant documents can be viewed at www.maib.gov.uk
By Peter Barker
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