“No matter how hard we try to promote safety, there will always be some that think ‘it’ will never happen to them.”
That’s the sobering assessment of Andrew Moll, chief inspector of marine accidents for the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB), in conversation with Marine Industry News.
The safety chief cites this lack of a cultural shift in the way boating safety is viewed as one of the main reasons why the same types of marine accidents continue to occur.
Moll suggests that “it sometimes takes a really bad accident for it to resonate sufficiently to change behaviours” — such as a tragic RIB accident in Cornwall in May 2013 that killed a father and daughter.
Other issues include the absence of legal requirements for training or insurance for piloting a boat, and a lack of appreciation of cold water shock — a year-round risk in Irish and UK waters, even in summer.
Marine Industry News has more on the story HERE.
