The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published its report on the June 7, 2023 incident on a rigid inflatable boat (RIB) that left one of its passengers permanently paralysed.
On the said date, the RIB Lundy Explorer departed Ilfracombe Harbour in North Devon, UK, for a sightseeing trip. While leaving the harbour, the boat encountered a high wave, which caused it to slam into an oncoming wave.
A passenger sitting in a jockey seat in the front of the RIB, where the highest shock loads were experienced, was dislodged from their seat and suffered a fracture of their spinal column that resulted in permanent paralysis.
The MAIB found that the local weather conditions had deteriorated quickly, and this resulted in choppy seas and increased wave heights that the RIB's skipper had not expected. Also, the position of the jockey seats at the front of the boat were unsuitable for single occupancy as they exposed passengers to high shock load as the boat slammed into the waves.
An investigation revealed that the pre-departure safety briefing did not include adequate instruction on the use of the seats and the passengers were unaware of the risks.
The MAIB added that current regulations do not reference safety standards for the design, position and use of seats on high-speed RIBs.
The MAIB has recommended that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA extend the anthropometric assessment recommended in MAIB Report 10/2023, the Seadogz report, (recommendation 2023/120) to include vertical impacts resulting from operating high-speed commercial vessels in varied sea conditions and speeds.
In consideration of MAIB Safety Bulletin SB3/2023, MCA has been advised to include in the forthcoming Code of Practice for the Safety of Small Vessels in Commercial Use for Sport or Pleasure a requirement to assess and mitigate the risks of seating people in the front third of a RIB or a high-speed boat.
Ilfracombe Sea Safari, the RIB's operator, has been recommended to implement a safety management system as stipulated in the Passenger Safety On Small Commercial High Speed Craft & Experience Rides – a Voluntary Code of Practice, to include operating procedures detailing pre-departure considerations and what actions to take should the conditions change; a pre-departure safety brief; risk assessments that accurately reflect potential hazards; and use of jockey seats.
The company is also recommended, in accordance with MGN 436 (M+F) Amendment 4 – Whole Body Vibration: Guidance on Mitigating Against the Effects of Shocks and Impacts on Small Vessels, to fit all company-owned RIBs with sensors that provide real-time measurement of the forces experienced in the boat’s forward section to enable the operator at the helm to protect passengers and crew against the effects of vibrations and shocks.
The Royal Yachting Association, British Marine, and the Professional Charter Association have meanwhile been recommended to promulgate this report to their members.