Marine incidents
This boat ran aground at night while relying solely on the GPS for navigation.A proper lookout must be kept at all times while underway.
Reporting marine incidents
Under the Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Act 1994, a marine incident is classified as an event causing or involving:
- the loss of a person from a ship
- the death of, or grievous bodily harm to, a person caused by a ship's operations
- the loss or presumed loss or abandonment of a ship
- a collision with a ship
- the stranding of a ship
- material damage to a ship
- material damage caused by a ship's operations
- danger to a person caused by a ship's operations
- danger of serious damage to a ship
- danger of serious damage to a structure caused by a ship's operations.
Maritime Safety Queensland has responsibility to collate and analyse the marine incident data provided by people involved in marine incidents. This information is gathered into reports by Safety Standards Branch, which produces two main reports each year: the annual Marine Incidents Report and the National Marine Safety Committee (Queensland jurisdiction) report.
How do I report a marine incident?
A marine incident must be reported to a shipping inspector within 48 hours of the incident, unless there is a reasonable excuse. Shipping inspectors are marine safety officers (located at Maritime Safety Queensland marine operations bases), and officers of Queensland Water Police and Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol. If you are unable to access one of these offices, contact a shipping inspector by phone. They will advise you what to do next.
The form may be completed with the assistance of a shipping inspector to ensure the information is accurate, unbiased and as reliable as possible. It is important that the form is filled in completely, with the incident described in as much detail as possible. The shipping inspector who receives the form will check to ensure it has been correctly completed.
If the initial report is not made in the approved form, the owner or master must make a further report to a shipping inspector in the approved form as soon as possible. The master would normally report a marine incident but the owner would report if the master, for some justifiable reason, was not able to make the report. Each marine incident reported will be investigated by a shipping inspector and the results of the investigation reported in the approved form.
The investigation may be as simple as a thorough examination of the marine incident report form and a decision that no further action is required, or it may require an investigation complete with interviews, statements, surveyor's reports and the preparation of a prosecution brief.
Why report marine incidents?
The reporting of marine incidents is vital to Maritime Safety Queensland. The information gathered assists in the development of infrastructure and education programs and on-water compliance programs which benefit all waterways users. Everyone can learn something from marine incidents. Knowing more about your marine incident may help prevent someone else from having one similar.
In addition, reporting a marine incident may assist you if you decide to make insurance claims on any damage. Some insurance companies may require a marine incident report to validate claims.
Learning the lessons from marine incidents
Safety reports are summaries of marine incidents that have occurred in Queensland. The safety reports highlight the lessons to be learnt from the incident. The cases presented are representative only and have been selected because they may benefit mariners confronted with similar circumstances.
**While this department has taken every possible precaution with the creation of these files, they are downloaded and used at your own risk. Adobe Reader is needed to open and print Portable Document Format (PDF) files and is free to download from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Various tools to enable access to these files for people using a screen reader can be found at http://access.adobe.com. Further information is available from the "Help with downloading, reading and printing PDF".
Last updated 09 October 2009
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