Image of boat from MAIB's annual report 2023

“2023 was a fairly average year,” says Andrew Moll, chief inspector of marine accidents. According to MAIB’s annual report (Marine Accident Investigation Branch), 1592 reports of marine accidents were raised, involving 1741 vessels. Nineteen investigations commenced, of which 12 involved loss of life. The organisation published ten reports and made 27 recommendations to 16 separate addressees.

But, Moll says that he is concerned about fishing vessels and significant under-reporting of accidents involving them.

“Twice in the last year, the branch has been contacted by lawyers supporting fishers pursuing personal injury claims but we have found no record of their accident. In both cases the injuries were significant, would have required hospital treatment, and the individuals had to give up their career in fishing. These were reportable accidents, and that they were ‘hidden’ speaks volumes about the safety culture on the vessels involved. The MAIB’s reports aim to improve future safety, but we can only fulfil this task if accidents are reported to us.”

As well as the annual figures, Moll is keen to point out that MAIB’s new data portal has gone live. This is designed to provide public access to an anonymised subset of maritime accident data. It’s been in development since August 2022, and gives the public and industry open access to download and analyse MAIB’s data. Data for 2023 is currently available and earlier years will be added as the data quality is assured.

Browse the latest news and safety recommendations from MAIB.

Meanwhile, the acceptance rate for MAIB recommendations remains healthy at 96.3 per cent. Some 27 recommendations were issued in 2023, of which 26 were accepted and 13 have already been implemented.

Less positive is that the branch only published ten investigation reports in 2023. That’s a 2:1 ratio of investigations started to investigations published. Moll admits that this is unsustainable as it creates a backlog and delays the promulgation of safety learning.

“While we are making good use of safety bulletins to circulate urgent safety messages, our top priority for this year continues to be reducing the backlog and improving the timeliness of reports,” he says. Currently MAIB is achieving a 1:1 ratio of investigations started to investigations published, but as Moll says: “We have commenced a number of challenging investigations this year with the ever-present risk of more to come.”

MAIB’s annual report examines the reports, recommendations and subsequent actions taken and is available to read in full online. Main image above it from the report into the Pelican of London.

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