CRITICAL SAFETY PRINCIPLES IN SMALL CRAFT DESIGN AND RULE DEVELOPMENT

摘要

For a long time, several countries have had rules and regulations on the design of fishing and charter boats, as well as work boats. In addition, some countries have included recreational crafts, but it is only in the last 10-15 years that safety standards have been actively developed on an international basis. The paper includes an overview of the main standards developed in the ISO TC 188 Small Craft work groups and in the boat building industry based on the Recreational Craft Directive. The basic principles for achieving safety and the accident scenarios behind the different solutions are described. In addition, light is shed on the differences in boating habits in different countries. Observations from the investigations of boating accidents, both sailing yacht race disasters and small open boat drowning accidents, are covered. Even though most of the accidents are caused by operational mistakes, the question of quality control and conformity assessment at the boatyards is also covered since some accidents can be tracked back to faults and mistakes made by the manufacturers or, perhaps more often, the designer could have added more tolerance for misuse. Finally, suggestions are made on the fact that an efficient feedback procedure has to be formed as to check and further develop work done so far. This will hopefully spark discussions.