NTSB publishes latest Safer Seas Digest

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its Safer Seas Digest 2020, a compendium of the NTSB’s maritime accident investigations involving loss of life, injuries and significant property damage completed in 2020.

Despite its name, the report is by no means confined to the seas. The inland waterways sector is, unfortunately, only too well represented, with 24 towing vessels being among those involved in the 42 marine accidents analyzed.

Safer Seas Digest 2020 details lessons learned from those accidents involving contact with fixed objects, sinkings, collisions, fires, explosions, flooding, groundings, and capsizings. Among the investigations included in the 112-page report are the fire aboard the dive boat Conception where 34 lives were lost and the collision that took 11 lives aboard the USS Fitzgerald.

“These tragedies remind us that whether we are serving in the nation’s armed forces, scuba diving for recreation, fishing on a trawler, or sustaining maritime commerce, we are all reliant on safety measures that must be in place before we step aboard,” said NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. “Mariners can use the lessons learned in the Safer Seas Digest to prevent future accidents and owners and operators can use it to help ensure a culture of safety at sea.”

The lessons learned in the Safer Seas Digest 2020 fall into 14 categories:

“With every investigation we learn new safety lessons to prevent or mitigate futures losses, but only when marine stakeholders at all levels of the industry apply these lessons is marine safety improved,” said Homendy. “I hope that the Safer Seas Digest 2020 provides the marine industry with essential information to better understand the safety issues confronting it, and the pathway to making maritime transportation safer.”

This is the eighth year the NTSB has published a Safer Seas Digest.

Download a copy HERE