Reported serious injuries and fatalities

Serious injuries (2020-2021)

Figure 11 shows the number of serious injuries to seafarers reported to AMSA in 2020 and 2021.

Figure 11 Number of serious injuries12 reported to AMSA 2020-2021

In Figure 12 a further breakdown of this reporting shows the proportion of injuries reported that occurred on Australian-flagged vessels, as distinct from foreign-flagged vessels. It should be noted that Australian-flagged vessels report to AMSA regardless of their geographical location. Foreign-flagged vessels are only required to report injuries that occur onboard the vessel in Australian waters.

Figure 12 Proportion of serious injuries that occurred on foreign or Australian-flagged vessels, 2020-2021

Fatalities (2017-2021)

AMSA categorises all deaths at sea as per the taxonomy¹³ below:

Operational
Illness/disease
Person overboard (presumed deceased)
Suicide
Other

Figure 13 Total reported seafarer fatalities by jurisdiction, type of fatality and year, 2017-2021

The total number of seafarer fatalities reported to AMSA 2017-2021 includes fatalities which occurred within the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)¹⁴ and fatalities which occurred outside of the Australian EEZ but were still reported to AMSA.

Figure 14 Proportion of reported fatalities by type of fatality, 2017-2021 (all)

The increase in fatalities by illness/disease for 2020 and 2021 may have been exacerbated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 15 Total reported seafarer fatalities by type of fatality, 2017-2021

Although the data suggests the number of persons overboard reported to AMSA is particularly high (reported to AMSA including those outside the EEZ), it is difficult to ascertain whether this is a global trend due to the lack of data available. Consequently, AMSA submitted a proposal to mandate the requirement to report fatalities at sea at the 4^th meeting of the MLC Special Tripartite Committee (STC). The STC agreed to the proposal which is a significant positive outcome for the industry and the first time mandatory reporting will be collated by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on deaths from any sector in the world.

Footnotes

¹² AMSA classifies serious injuries to include injuries that require emergency treatment, in most cases leading to an emergency medivac from the vessel, and/or hospitalisation.

¹³ Refer to the glossary of this report.

¹⁴ The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea. The outer limit of the exclusive economic zone cannot exceed 200M from the baseline from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured. The Australian EEZ is defined in the Seas and Submerged Lands Act 1973.