Because the exposure to the marine and offshore environments, slips and falls are a significant source of personal injuries on floating vessels and offshore equipment, probably the rate of personal injuries due to slip and falls in a marine environment is substantially greater than most industry groups.
Low transverse stability was reported on this vessel prior to the accident, but no action was taken to investigate the cause of the low stability.
TYPICAL CASE IN WHICH LACK OF ATTENTION TO SMALL DEFICIENCIES RESULTED IN A MAJOR DISASTER:
After inspecting more than 100 marine stairways, in which accidents occurred, we found several deficiencies in the steps and handrails of stairs that are consistently repeated.
This accident happened in a large compartment of an Offshore Supply Vessel (OSV), which, because of lack of appropriate ventilation and toxic atmosphere it should have been treated as a confined space.
The majority of accidents involve personal injuries and/or fatalities, although the strong and continuous improvement in the field of accident prevention is resulting in a constant reduction of the number of marine related fatalities.
The M/V Salvador Allende capsized and sunk on or about December 9, 1994, in the Atlantic Ocean, with the loss of almost the entire crew. Only two (2) members of the crew survived, the third engineer, Mr. Alexander Tarenov, and the second mate, Mr. Ivan Skiba.
The motivation for this report was an inquiry about the construction of a medium sized marina in a river area tributary to a coastal bay area of California. Consequently, these comments are general comments about some factors, which will affect construction costs. This information pertains to marinas of about 500 berths. Larger marinas normally have included a PD with public facilities and access points. There are large marinas presently under review for several areas of California. The construction of the modern day marina, whether coastal or inland, presents many more social and environmental aspects to consider than marinas of the past...
