Reporting
The reporting to IMO of marine casualties and incidents, including marine safety investigations, is based on the provisions of SOLAS 1974 regulations I/21(b) and XI-1/6, MARPOL articles 8 &12 and LL 1966/1988 article 23 and is presented in more detail in the following IMO instruments and other material:
- Code of International Standards and Recommended Practices for a Safety Investigation into a Marine Casualty or Marine Incident (Casualty Investigation Code) (resolution MSC.255(84), as amended by resolution 390(94) ), paragraph 14.1, chapter 14 of the mandatory Part II:“The marine safety investigating State(s) shall submit the final version of a marine safety investigation report to the Organization for every marine safety investigation conducted into a very serious casualty.”
- Safety of fishermen at sea, resolution A.646(16), paragraph 3:“3.URGES the Maritime Safety Committee to consider casualty statistics for fishing vessels and fishermen, as a matter of high priority, in order to develop at a later stage the appropriate amendments to conventions and codes to improve the safety of fishermen at sea;”
- Reports on casualty statistics concerning fishing vessels and fishermen at sea, MSC/Circ.539/Add.2, paragraph 2:“2.Member Governments are invited to submit information on casualties referred to above in accordance with the attached format while the FSI Sub-Committee and other relevant sub-committees consider the question of harmonization of the reporting formats and establishment of a single IMO database.”
- Report on fishing vessels and fishermen statistics, MSC/Circ.753, paragraph 3:“3.The Committee, therefore, invite Member Governments to submit information on casualties to fishing vessels, irrespective of whether the fishing vessels are defined by length of tonnage and the respective fishermen casualties, to enable the FSI Sub-Committee to prepare the relevant database.”
- Provision of preliminary information on serious and very serious casualties by rescue co-ordination centres, MSC/Circ.802, paragraph 3:“3 The information requested should be forwarded in any forms available but, preferably, in the form of situation reports (SITREPs), as shown in the IMO Search and Rescue Manual, Part 2- chapter 1, annex 2.” (see IAMSAR Manual, volume III, Appendix D: Standard Format for Search and rescue Situation Report (SITREP)).
- Guidance on near-miss reporting, MSC-MEPC.7/Circ.7, paragraph 4:“4 Member Governments and international organizations concerned are recommended to bring this circular to the attention of all parties concerned.”
- Reporting Near Misses, MSC/Circ.1015, paragraphs 2 and 3:“2 The Committee noted the necessity of encouraging the reporting of near misses, so that remedial measures can be taken to avoid recurrences.”“3 In order to promote a no-blame culture, Member Governments are invited to:
- Casualty-related matters, Reports on marine casualties and incidents, MSC-MEPC.3/Circ.4/Rev.1, paragraphs 6 and 7:“6 Following a very serious marine casualty, where data from a marine safety investigation is to be supplied to the Organization, the marine safety investigating State should submit a marine safety investigation report in addition to the data required in the appendices to this circular."“7 Investigating States are invited to populate the GISIS MCI module with basic factual data about the casualty as soon as possible after the occurrence.”
- This is a user guidance for the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) module on marine casualties and incidents.
- Guide on the process to associate interest to a Marine Safety Investigation report,. This explains how Member States can be associated to a Marine Safety Investigation report previously uploaded into GISIS-MCI.
review their regulatory and safety regime with a view to encouraging the reporting of near misses without fear of reprisal or punitive action;
urge companies operating ships under their flag not to penalize persons reporting near misses; and
urge companies operating ships under their flags to implement procedures by which persons should only report near misses to the designated person or persons and the designated person or persons should only pass on such reports in an anonymous form.”