Consequences to people
Fatalities
In 2022 there were two operational related seafarer fatalities on foreign flagged vessels. There were no passenger fatalities reported in 2022.
Detailed reporting on vessel crew fatalities is contained in the Maritime Labour Convention Annual Report 2022.18
Injuries
In 2022, a total of 170 injuries of crew and passengers were reported from RAVs (38) and foreign flag (132) vessels (Table 6). Of these, 56 were categorised as serious injuries.
| Consequence | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | % incidents | Total | % incidents | Total | % incidents | Total | % incidents | |
| RAV | ||||||||
| Injury to crew | 36 | 14.7% | 60 | 18.1% | 38 | 19.5% | 37 | 13.8% |
| Injury to passengers | 2 | 0.8% | 1 | 0.3% | 3 | 1.5% | 1 | 0.4% |
| Foreign flag | ||||||||
| Injury to crew | 177 | 5.7% | 126 | 4.0% | 158 | 4.5% | 114 | 3.0% |
| Injury to passengers | 102 | 3.3% | 24 | 0.8% | 1 | 0.0% | 18 | 0.5% |
The proportion of serious crew injury incidents on foreign flag vessels was 36.8% (42) in 2022, which represents a reduction from the 37.3% (59) in 2021.
In 2022, most injuries were reported from bulk carriers with 43.6% (68) of incidents involving crew injuries of which 46.4% (24) were serious injuries.
Most injuries were associated with operational access followed by maintenance. Although maintenance was more frequently associated with incidents resulting in serious injuries (Figure 23, Table A8).
Persons overboard
In 2022, 10 persons overboard (POB) incidents were reported with 3 of these associated with the operation of the vessel which occurred during a vessel-to-vessel transfer. These involved:
- A surveyor attending a foreign flag vessel at anchor fell when transferring between vessel combination ladder to a small vessel.
- Two RAV incidents both of which involved crew falling into the water when transferring between a tug and another vessel.
Footnotes
18. The MLC Annual 2022 report contains a detailed breakdown of seafarer fatalities on international commercial vessels in Australian waters including person overboard incidents.