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5.0  VESSEL INCIDENT DATA

5.1 General

• Recorded vessel incident and accident for the period 1975 to 2001 was available through the Transportation Safety Board of Canada. The data has been recorded in a consistent format since the beginning
  
  
• Recorded incident and accident data in the USA is available for the period 1980 to 2001, but the format in which the information was recorded was changed significantly in 1991

5.2 Accident Data - Canada

• There are an average of about 50 accidents per year for all activities in the west coast Canadian tug fleet. There is no clear trend of increasing or decreasing accidents
  
  
• There are, on average, less then two deaths per year in the industry
  
  
• There are, on average, between two and three serious injuries per year in the industry
  
  
• Collisions and groundings dominate (53%) the type of accidents
  
  
• Accidents categorized by vessel age generally follow the fleet age profile
  
  
• Accidents categorized by vessel size (GRT) generally follow the fleet size profile
  
  
• Accidents occur predominantly in areas of confined space; e.g. harbours, channels/straits and sounds, and in rivers
  
  
• 68% of accidents occur in clear conditions
  
  
• 47% of accidents occur in calm or near-calm conditions

5.3 Accident Data - USA

• Accidents in the USA average in excess of 60 per year over the study period, and demonstrate a generally increasing trend over time, with a large increase in the period 1998 to present, with an average over those four years of approximately 125 accidents per year
  
  
• There are less than two deaths per year in the US west coast towing industry
  
  
• Accidents categorized by vessel age generally follow the fleet age profile
  
  
• Accidents categorized by vessel size (GRT) generally follow the fleet size profile, although there are disproportionate spikes in the data at the GRT breaks corresponding to 200 and 300 GRT (US measure)
  
  
• Accidents occur predominantly in areas of confined space; e.g. harbours/bays, channels/ straits and sounds, and in rivers/waterways, although 23% of US accidents are recorded in coastal areas
  
  
• 27% of accidents occur in "clear" conditions. 58% of accidents occur in "unknown" conditions

5.4 Normalized Data - Canada and USA

• The data for both countries was normalized on a "per vessel capita" basis in order to provide a direct comparison
  
  
• The US towing industry shows a gradual increase in accident rate over time, and at a consistently higher rate than in Canada, except for an anomalous spike in occurrences in the period 1989 to 1992
  
  
• For tugboats alone, both countries show fairly constant, if erratic rates of accidents. However the rate of accidents per capita in the US is about twice that in Canada
  
  
• There has been a large increase in accident rates in the past five years in the US, with no comparable, and even a diminishing trend in Canada. It is moot whether this increase in the US reflects increased reporting as much as increased incidents
  
  
• The types of accidents occurring in tugs is fairly consistent between the two countries, with two notable exceptions:
  
  
  1. "equipment failures" in the US are recorded as the second largest accident cause at 27.3 %, whereas in Canada equipment failures are reported as the cause of only 1% of accidents
     
     
  2. "fire/explosions" are recorded at 11.8% in Canada, and only 29% in the US
     
     
  The direct comparisons are summarized in the Table below:

  	Percentage of Occurrences
  Incident Type	Canada	USA
  Collision/striking	31.9	36.4
  Grounding	21.6	17.4
  Foundering/flooding/sinking	20.2	8.4
  Fire/explosion	11.8	2.9
  Capsize	4.4	2.4
  Weather damage	0.6	1.3
  Equipment failure	1.0	27.3
  Towing connection failure	2.0	2.3
  Towline injury	1.2	N/A
  Fell overboard	1.6	N/A
  Other	3.6	1.5

• Deaths and injuries aboard tugs in Canada average 1.0 deaths and 1.5 injuries per year over the period 1975 to 2001. Deaths and injuries aboard tugs in the US average 1.6 deaths and 6.1 injuries per annum over the period 1980 to 2001. On a per 100 vessels basis, the rate of deaths and injuries aboard tugs is as follows:
  
  

  - Canada       - 4.2 deaths;  6.1 injuries
  

  - USA           - 6.7 deaths;  25.1 injuries

  
  
• When accidents are recorded as a function of vessel size (as measured by international GRT), there are large spikes in occurrences corresponding to the various major "tonnage breaks" in both countries; namely 15, 150, and 500 GRT in Canada, and 100, 200, and 300 (US measure) in the US. Of notable interest however is the fact that smaller vessels in both countries have a noticeably lower rate of accidents than do larger vessels

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