The number of accidents reported to the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) dropped to 1,057 casualties and incidents in 2015 compared to 1,270 in 2014. The total number of accidents to UK vessels or in UK coastal waters involved 1194 vessels, according to MAIB. 46 of these accidents involved only non-commercial vessels, while 447 were occupational accidents that did not involve any actual or potential casualty to a vessel. There were 646 accidents involving 744 commercial vessels which involved actual or potential casualties to vessels.

According to the latest data released by MAIB, the number of investigations started in 2015 also decreased to 28 from the 31 started in 2014. For the sixth year in succession no UK merchant vessels of over 100 gross tons were lost. MAIB added that the size of the UK fleet has increased and so the overall accident rate for UK merchant vessels of over 100 gt has fallen to 85 per 1,000 vessels from 88 per 1,000 in 2014. However, due to a higher staff turnover between 2013 and 2014, with more new recruits joining MAIB, the time to complete an investigation increased as “it takes around 18 months for a new inspector to be trained.” The average time taken to complete investigations in 2015 was 11.6 months.

(Source: World Maritime News)