WASHINGTON (Oct. 26, 2023) — The National Transportation Safety Board released Thursday Safer Seas Digest 2022, which highlights the most important lessons learned from marine investigations last year.
Safer Seas Digest 2022 details the facts and analyzes the probable causes of 29 maritime causalities, including capsizings, collisions, fires, flooding and groundings. Among the events included in the report are the sinking of the Emmy Rose, where four crewmembers lost their lives, and the capsizing of the Seacor Power, which resulted in 13 fatalities. In both reports, the NTSB issued and reissued potentially life-saving recommendations to the U.S. Coast Guard and other stakeholders, including requiring personal locator beacons. This widely available and relatively low-cost technology can help locate mariners in distress, increasing their chances of survival.
“With every investigation, our mission is the same: to determine what happened, how it happened, and issue evidence-based recommendations to prevent similar events from occurring in the future,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “As we look back on our 2022 investigations, I urge every mariner and their employer not to wait for the measures outlined in Safer Seas to become mandatory. You can voluntarily strengthen safety now. A great place to start is by investing in personal locator beacons for every crewmember.”
While some NTSB recommendations call for regulatory action, passenger and fishing vessel associations, training centers and marine safety advocacy groups can also promote awareness of NTSB findings and lessons learned and encourage operators to take voluntary measures to improve safety on their vessels.
The Safer Seas Digest 2022 is available online as well as a library of previous editions. This is the tenth year the NTSB has published a Safer Seas Digest.
“Over the last decade, this annual publication has highlighted the lessons learned from hundreds of NTSB marine casualty investigations with one goal in mind: to inspire meaningful safety change on our waterways,” Chair Homendy said.
The NTSB’s Office of Marine Safety investigates major marine causalities upon the navigable waters of the U.S. and accidents involving U.S. flagged vessels worldwide.
To report an incident/accident or if you are a public safety agency, please call 1-844-373-9922 or 202-314-6290 to speak to a Watch Officer at the NTSB Response Operations Center (ROC) in Washington, DC (24/7).
