Page 3 - CHIRP annual digest 2016.pdf

Annual Digest 2016

Introduction

Welcome to the first annual review of CHIRP others so they may avoid such mistakes themselves. We
Maritime reports, covering all the cases we hope this digest will contribute to that aim by presenting
published during 2016. We hope it will be the the safety lessons learned by dozens of mariners in a single
volume for the information of all seafarers.
first of many.

It is worth repeating that none of this would be possible
There are a number of people to thank for the success of
CHIRP Maritime, led by the management team of John without the people who submit reports to CHIRP. It is
only through them that we are able to function, and we
Rose and Ian Shields, who are ably assisted by Stephanie
Colbourne. Remarkably, they are only employed on a part- urge all seafarers to participate. Your incident and near-
miss reports may help prevent similar situations in the
time basis and the amount of work they do is astonishing.
future, so by telling us what happened you are directly
The core team also has the support of the CHIRP
helping to save lives and improve safety.
Maritime Advisory Board (MAB), which is made up of wise
men and women with vast experience, who vet the cases
and offer their advice as necessary. Their efforts, however, Most of the reports we receive are from ocean-going
would count for nothing without the reports sent in vessels, although readers will note we are seeing an
primarily by individuals and more recently by companies increasing level of contribution from the leisure and
from around the world, and it is to all our contributors that yachting sectors, which is most welcome.
this publication is dedicated.
Sadly, we still do not hear enough from some important
Producing the various CHIRP newsletters, podcasts and sectors such as container shipping, bulk carriers, cruise
videos and maintaining an effective website with a ships, towage, offshore, super yachts, port operations and
searchable database is not cheap, so we are also indebted fishing. They are all high-risk pursuits, so we would urge
to the sponsors whose financial contributions permit us anyone working in those sectors to consider reporting
to provide the service. Their faith in us, and the support their accidents and near misses to CHIRP.
they provide, allows us not only to function but also to
reach more seafarers than ever before. And it is a generous Reporting has never been easier or more convenient, and
contribution from the Sir John Fisher Foundation that has this digest contains information on all the ways you can
funded the production of this Annual Digest. We thank contribute, so please bear it in mind.
them all.
We have chosen to divide the reports into themed sections,
When I first went to sea, crew numbers were much bigger so similar topics are grouped together. This will make it
than they are today, and people tended to spend their easier for readers to identify topics that particularly interest
entire careers as mariners. As a result, I sailed with people them, and it also indicates at a glance the most common
who were vastly experienced and I can recall a number of sources of incidents. Rather than having blank spaces, we
occasions when I was saved from disaster by the more have also included some reports from 2015 where space
experienced men around me. Nowadays, manning levels permits. Some reports could easily fit into two or more
have reduced to a point where constant supervision of sections, but we have tried to select the most appropriate
trainees is almost impossible, and crews tend to be less section for each report. For more detailed and focused
experienced anyway, so the risks are greater. searches, we recommend the searchable database on our
website www.chirpmaritime.org.
In my opinion, this is where schemes like CHIRP and the
Nautical Institute’s MARS programme are most effective Within most sections you will also find Advisory Board
– as a way for young people to learn from the mistakes of Insight articles that illuminate topics covered in that

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