By David Hughes

SINCE 1981, there have been 419 deaths involving lifeboats as well as 346 serious and 116 minor injuries. Ironically, these seafarers were almost all killed or injured during drills or procedures aimed at keeping them safe.

Last week's column considered the application of environmental, social, governance (ESG) principles to the funding of shipping. If any investors are serious about the S in ESG they could do well to ask nosey questions about lifeboat drills and lifeboat safety in general.

Anybody from outside the industry will almost certainly be, to put it mildly, shocked to read those statistics and baffled that the accidents occurred during safety drills. They will be justified in being shocked, to the extent they would probably find it impossible to believe what they read – there must be some mistake in the figures surely?

On being reminded of those deaths and injuries, most people in the shipping industry are likely to respond with a weary, frustrated sigh. That is because they know all too well those figures are real. InterManager, the international trade association for ship and crew managers, quotes the statistics in a recent press release.

It says: “InterManager collates figures on lifeboat accidents on behalf of the maritime community and to assist in its role as a member of the International Lifeboat Group, which aims to reduce lifeboat accidents and deaths.”

Those of us who went to sea well before the introduction of enclosed lifeboats in the early 80s will remember the ritual, when possible at anchor or in port, of lowering the lifeboats and taking them away from the ship. I don't recall hearing of fatal accidents during those drills.

There were, no doubt, minor injuries from time to time during these drills, but by and large mariners saw them as a normal and acceptable part of life at sea. Many actually enjoyed regular hands-on small boat handling. They were certainly not viewed with the fear that lifeboat drills can instil in seafarers these days.

The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) specifies lifeboat construction standards and the drills to be followed. The latest form of SOLAS, now an International Maritime Organization (IMO) convention, entered into force in May 1980. It brought in a change from open lifeboats, which were lowered into the water and released manually, to enclosed ones.

Open boats were, relatively speaking, simple and safe to lower into the water and operate in calm conditions. But they were not very good at saving lives in the rough seas that realistically can be expected when a ship has to be abandoned. Manually releasing the boats was difficult and dangerous because one end could be released while the other remained attached, upending the boat and tipping out the occupants. In addition, these boats could be capsized and offered scant protection from the elements

Enclosed boats were a huge step forward in those respects. They had on-load release hooks which ensured both ends came free at the same time. Being enclosed also meant they could survive capsizing and protected the occupants from hypothermia.

So what has been going wrong? The main fault causing accidents has been unintended hook releases, sometimes with the boat at a great height above the water. Freefall preventer devices (FPD) are available to stop the boat dropping if the hook inadvertently releases but are not mandatory and not universally approved.

There is an argument that current hooks are perfectly safe as long as they are reset correctly. In other words, that implies seafarers themselves are to blame. Personally, I wouldn't want to be in a boat more than a couple of feet above the water without an FPD in place even if I had just reset the hook myself. We can all make mistakes, particularly when bouncing around in a boat grappling with a hook.

More recently, attention has also turned to the wire lines (known as "falls") that are used to lower a boat from its "davits", which both house and lower the boat on and from the ship's deck. The falls can become corroded or they can be incorrectly secured back to the davit after maintenance - either instance will cause them to fail suddenly.

The above refers to boats lowered from either side of the ship. In recent years "freefall" lifeboats, fitted at the stern of ship, have come into common use. Sadly, freefall has not meant accident free, as issues specific to this type of craft have arisen.

So we are in the unbelievable situation that a very well-intentioned initiative has turned out to lead to substantial loss of life over many years. The obvious question is why is this still an issue more than 40 years on. Many within the industry, including shipping industry bodies and unions, have been vociferous in demanding change, but here we are still trying to stop people being killed by safety drills.

That brings us back to Intermanager, which says: “Seafarers are dying needlessly in lifeboat accidents when maritime legislation doesn’t actually require vessels to be manned during drills.”

Intermanager is highlighting a legislative change which means that it is not necessary for crew to be onboard when lifeboats are tested. The current SOLAS dates from 1974, but has been amended numerous times. SOLAS regulation III/19.3.3.3 requires each lifeboat to be launched at least once every 3 months during an abandon ship drill, and manoeuvred in the water by its assigned operating crew. However, the regulation, while requiring each lifeboat to be manoeuvred in the water by its assigned operating crew, does not actually require that crew to be on board when the lifeboat is launched.

In 2009, the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee agreed that the assigned operating crew should not be required to be on board lifeboats during launching, unless the ship's master, within the authority conferred to him/her by paragraph 5.5 of the ISM Code, considers it necessary, taking into account all safety aspects.

InterManager secretary general, Captain Kuba Szymanski, says: “This is an extremely important change which seems to have been missed by some ship operators and is still included in some shipboard/safety management systems. To prevent any further loss of life in this way, we are raising awareness of the fact that seafarers are not required to be in the lifeboat when launching during drills.”

He adds: “It’s important that everyone involved, particularly port state control officers, understand and apply this regulation correctly. The maritime community must do all we can to ensure the safety of seafarers.”

He is absolutely right, of course. Equally important, though, is ensuring that boats cannot simply drop from a height if the hook releases for whatever reason. It is time (shamefully long past time) for a renewed focus on lifeboat safety.