CHIRP Reports on Safety Issues in the Superyacht Industry

From entrapment in running equipment to dangerous recovery of a person in water, pressures to make fatal decisions and lack of familiarity of equipment on board, there are many safety issues that can arise to both crew and owners while chartering a superyacht. As such, CHIRP – the Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme, a UK- based charity whose purpose is to improve safety at sea (CHIRP Maritime) and in the air (CHIRP Aviation) through their confidential and independent reporting programme – set about to investigate every report and publish anonymised findings to raise awareness of safety issues.

They welcome safety-related reports from anywhere in the world and from all parts of the maritime industry. They never reveal the identities of their reporters, and, as soon as their investigations are complete, they permanently delete all the personal details from their database. This means that anyone can raise safety concerns without fear of their identity being revealed to peer groups, line managers, etc.

Now, CHIRP Maritime has responded to several requests to write a safety newsletter focusing on the superyacht sector by publishing its inaugural issue of “Superyacht FEEDBACK”. It is a free periodical which uses the real-life incidents and near misses reported to them to raise awareness of underlaying causes and to assist in identifying best practices. The PYA strongly encourages every yacht crew - and anyone involved in the Professional Yachting Industry (including owners) - to subscribe to CHIRP’s “Superyacht FEEDBACK".

The report includes real-life scenarios including a captain who felt pressured into letting an inebriated gusts drive a jet ski which ended in a fatal collision, and a tender which was left stranded due to unfamiliar shallow spots.

Read the full report here.

Should you be involved in, or witness to, an incident/accident on a yacht, please do consider submitting a confidential report to CHIRP here.