PASSENGER FERRY SAFETY RECOMMENDATIONS

passenger ferry safety recommendations

Wall St. Ferry Crash Spurs NTSB Safety Recommendations

By Eric HaunTuesday, July 08, 2014, 1:44 PMSeastreak Wall StreetThe National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) investigation into the allision of passenger vessel Seastreak Wall Street with Pier 11, Lower Manhattan, New York early last year has led the board to issue a safety alert regarding stairway hazards during docking and undocking.Of the 331 people on board when the vessel allided with the dock on January 9, 2013, 79 passengers and one crewmember were injured, four of them seriously. As the vessel approached the pier, some passengers stood in the ferry’s five stairways providing passenger access between three deck levels as they anticipated arrival. When the vessel unexpectedly struck the dock, passengers lost their balance and fell, causing head injuries, fractured ribs and cuts and bruises. The most severely injured passenger fell down a stairway and suffered a broken neck, brain hemorrhage, lung collapse, facial fractures and lacerations and nerve injuries. He spent more than five weeks in a hospital.The NTSB advises vessel passengers to avoid unrestricted stairways during docking and undocking as a momentary loss of balance can cause falls and serious injuries.

 To additionally reduce the risk of injuries, NTSB recommends passengers remain seated or hold onto a handrail or seat back during docking and always be prepared for unexpected vessel movement.To further reduce the risk of serious injuries, the NTSB recommends vessel operators develop procedures to control passenger access to stairways during docking and undocking

 — at Mombasa Likoni Ferry — at Kigamboni Ferry Terminal, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

They rarely reach passenger capacity, however, notwithstanding the spectacle of the terminals/dock overflow of crowd happen mostly during peak hours

Still, counting people is important. Captains need to know when their vessels exceed the magic number of passengers . That's how many people they can strap into life vests and fit on lifeboats.

The number of people per boat can exceed the lifesaving capacity, since help from other vessels is readily available on most runs, but the Coast Guard must be alerted, along with other vessels on the same route and boats on adjacent routes that will be expected to help in an emergency. Most ferries have a maximum passenger capacity of 1,500 people.

Ferry terminal staff provide counts for each trip, as accurately as possible with the tools available

It makes the master more comfortable,"  in the case of an emergency how he is going to use his personnel and what equipment to use to save lifes.

The first three things the Coast Guard will want to know in an emergency is the nature of the problem, the location and how many people are on board. The goal from a search-and-rescue perspective is to recover everybody possible. You need the count to accomplish that."