Causes and prevention of boating fatalities
Introduction
In Australia, boating causes more serious injuries (i.e. deaths and hospitalisations combined) than rail and air crashes combined and, as a transport-related activity within the scope of interest of the state and federal transport departments, is second only to motor vehicles as a cause of serious injury (O’Connor, 2002). On average, 80 people die each year and 1000 are admitted to hospital, consuming nearly 4000 hospital bed days (O’Connor, 2002). Using recent estimates (NMSC, 2003), the total serious injury cost is estimated at more than $A 370 million per annum.
Despite the injury harm that boating causes there has never been a comprehensive study of boating deaths in Australia. Indeed there have been few such studies anywhere in the world, with some notable exceptions (MSA, 1999, MSA, 2000, OSMB, 1999, US DOT, 1998). Other recent Australian studies have unfortunately restricted the assessment of boating deaths to those caused by drowning (Driscoll et al., 2003, Bugeja, 2003, Ashby and Cassell, 2004), understating the full extent of boating deaths, particularly those arising directly from blunt and penetrating impacts, and restricting the consideration of the full range of factors involved in boating deaths.
Unlike road and air fatalities, where the contribution of human, vehicle and environmental factors and safety technology has been comprehensively studied over many years, boating fatalities have not often been subjected to in-depth assessment. Some of the causal factors have been studied, for example, the role of alcohol (O’Connor, 2001, Waterways, 1999, MaST, 2000, Warner et al., 2000, Lunetta et al., 1998, Penttila and Pikkarainen, 1990). However, the protective factors have received little attention in the literature. As an illustration, despite a heavy emphasis on life jackets and personal flotation devices (PFDs) in public policy throughout the world, their effectiveness has not been proven.
The poor state of knowledge reflects in part the lack of a data standard focussing on the causal and protective factors. In addition, where fatalities have been studied, non-fatal outcomes in the same events have not been included. Comparison of the factors involved in death and survival in the same incidents would add to an understanding and quantification of the hazards and risk factors.
In Australia, Coroner's data provide the best available source of historical information on boating incidents, including fatal and non-fatal outcomes. This was demonstrated in three recent state-based studies (Waterways, 1999, MaST, 2000, O’Connor, 2001). The aim of the present study was to collate and code the data according to a recently developed national data standard (NMSC, 2000) in order to study the causes and prevention of boating deaths.
Section snippets
Methods
In Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) maintains a mortality unit record data collection. Until recently with the implementation of a national coronial data system, this provided the only means available to identify boating deaths in a nationally consistent format. The cause of each registered death was classified by the ABS according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD: World Health Organization, 1979). All deaths that occurred over the period 1992–1998, coded
Incident details
There were 270 separate fatal boating incidents over the period 1992–1998, involving 288 vessels and resulting in 333 deaths, 168 of which were vessel operators and the remainder other occupants.
Of the vessels involved, the trip purpose was for fishing (48%), a leisure cruise (26%) or some other specified purpose (26%). The most common time of incident was 12 mid-day to 4 p.m. (32%). Seventy-six percent occurred between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The location of the incident was defined according to the
Discussion
Recreational and commercial boating activity causes a significant level of harm to the Australian community measured in terms of mortality. This can be reduced by a concerted effort to address the hazards and protective factors. The present study identifies and quantifies many of these factors for the first time in the international literature.
Considering protection first, the benefit of PFDs has been shown statistically through a case–control study. The comparison effectively excluded
Acknowledgements
The Coroners in each state approved access to their files and their staff provided assistance with extraction of fatality files. Staff from the marine safety authorities in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania assisted in copying the files and forwarding them to the authors for coding. Judith Webster, Program Coordinator of the National Marine Safety Committee, assisted with coordination of the study.
References (35)
Epidemiology of personal watercraft-related injury on Arkansas waterways, 1994–1997: identifying priorities for prevention
Accid. Anal. Prev.
(2000)- et al.
Drowning and alcohol in New Zealand: what do the coroner's files tell us
Aust. N. Z. J. Public Health
(2000) - et al.
Boating-related sports and recreational injury, Victoria, July 2000 to June 2002
Victorian Injury Surveillance & Applied Research System
(2004) Alcohol and Road Fatalities: Monograph 5
(2001)- et al.
Personal watercraft-related injuries
JAMA
(1998) - et al.
Personal watercraft-related injuries: a growing public health concern
JAMA
(1997) Recreational Vessel Fatalities in Victoria: 1999–2002
(2003)Alcohol “on board”, man overboard—boating fatalities in Canada
CMAJ
(1998)- et al.
Trends in unintentional drownings: the role of alcohol and medical care
JAMA
(1999) - et al.
The role of alcohol in fatal injuries arising from recreational aquatic activity
Patterns of maxillofacial injuries in powered watercraft
Plast. Reconstr. Surg.
Random breath testing in Australia: getting it to work according to specifications
Addiction
Drink–Driving in South Australia: A Situation Analysis Prepared for the ORS Public Education Strategies Unit
Alcohol-influenced recreational boat operation in the United States, 1994
Am. J. Prev. Med.
Young people, alcohol, and driving in two Australian states
Int. J. Addict.
Water traffic accidents, drowning and alcohol in Finland, 1996–1995
Int. J. Epidemiol.
Recreational Boating Safety Review
Cited by (37)
Drowning
2024, Emergency Medicine Clinics of North AmericaInjury patterns of mass casualty incidents involving high-speed passenger ferries presenting to accident and emergency departments in Hong Kong: a retrospective review
2020, InjuryCitation Excerpt :A public enquiry following the accident later found that there were no child lifejackets on the sinking ferry, and many survivors experienced difficulty with retrieving lifejackets and in tying the straps to secure the lifejackets to their body [4]. A study on boating fatalities in Australia showed that only 9% of people killed were wearing personal flotation devices, and that people who survived were more than two times likely to have been wearing a personal flotation device [23]. These findings show the importance of making age-appropriate lifejackets immediately accessible to all passengers—not only to high-speed ferry passengers but also to all other passengers of other types of sea vessels where collision with a high-speed ferry remains possible.
Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Treatment and Prevention of Drowning: 2019 Update
2019, Wilderness and Environmental MedicineCitation Excerpt :In addition, 85% of these fatalities were not wearing lifejackets. Three other retrospective studies have found an association between lifejacket use and decreased mortality in boating accidents.145–147 One of these studies compared drowning deaths before and after increased lifejacket regulations, revealing improved survival rates after regulations went into effect.
Analysis of the influence of human errors on the occurrence of coastal ship accidents in different wave conditions using Bayesian Belief Networks
2019, Accident Analysis and PreventionBoating-related drowning in Australia: Epidemiology, risk factors and the regulatory environment
2019, Journal of Safety ResearchHalf-century research developments in maritime accidents: Future directions
2019, Accident Analysis and Prevention
- 1
Currently an epidemiologist and risk management consultant in private practice.
- 2
Research coordinator in private practice.