Analysis of the Causes and Prevention Strategies of Boat Accident Along Nigeria Inland Waterways. A Case Study of Niger Delta
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives of the study
This study attempts to find out about the types, causes and frequencies of boats mishaps in selected Niger/Delta states of Nigeria and to document suggestions from operators and the communities on how to prevent or minimise the occurrence to the lowest possible level. Specifically, the study also intends to:
- Evaluate the safety measures put in place by operators and other institutional bodies in the areas and assesses the level of infrastructure in terms of quantity, quality and accessibility to boat operators, boat users and institutional staff.
- Examines the educational background and training needs of operators and institutional staff as well as the number and quality of training institutions in the areas
- Recommend various intervention policies to government.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Egbuh (2006), discovers that there were 102 wrecks located at 62 wreck sites within the Lagos ports area and another seven wrecks at the Lagos bar estimated to cost about US$40 to be removed. Obviously, such large number of wrecks constitutes enormous danger for navigation by ocean-going ships visiting Lagos area. On the other hand, Bob-Manuel (2002) observes that human error was a predominant factor in capsizing of Boats. He asserts that Boats may capsize when they hit high and steep breaking waves from the side which will subject them to severe rolling or pitching, gale and loss of stability. He contends that some of these factors can be controlled by the provision of internal buoyancy compartments in order to secure the stability of the boat when fully laden. Egbuh (2006), also states that capsize hazards can also be minimized by reducing the period of exposure i.e. the number of trips of the boat per day, by the acquisition of wave data, detailed study of the wave pattern and developing ways to encounter dangerous waves. He concludes that avoidance of overloading to maintain enough freeboard and prudent observance of the national maritime rules and regulations are very critical in averting boat accidents.
The Nigerian Association of Master Mariners (NAMM) in 2009 identifies poor pilotage services, lack of adequate lighting system at the ports, absence of a system to administer, monitor and investigate these mishaps, failure to sound signals, inappropriate speed of the ship, light or shapes off and inappropriate directions or supervision on work and collision among other causes of marine accidents. The leading cause of collisions is improper lookout which is classified into three types: i) No lookout; ii) Failure to recognize the other Boat until just before collision despite standing lookout; and iii) Insufficient observation of the movement of the other Boat after once recognizing it. Other causes of accidents includes: inappropriate reporting or taking-over, inappropriate maneuverings, poor selection and maintenance of course, insufficient attention to weather or sea-surface conditions, inappropriate anchoring or mooring, insufficient maintenance, inspection or handling of lubricating oil/fuel oil as well as insufficient study of the waterways. The assertion by NAMM is part of what the study attempted to verify in the areas covered during the research.
On the other hand, the United States Coast Guard (USCG, 2005) contends that the number one cause of fatalities in boating accidents is capsizing which is caused by improper loading or overloading but it can also be caused by other things such as foul weather. Another reason pointed out for capsizing is anchoring to the stern. That every year boats capsize, and people are injured or killed, because of the Boat being anchored by the stern. However, another great cause of fatal accidents is someone falling overboard, which occur while the boat is moored, or at anchor. It is most often caused by unstable footing or unsafe acts, like sitting on the sideboards or gunwales. Standing or moving about without holding on to something can also be a cause.
USCG statistics shows that 61% of the accidents were caused by improper Boat operation, 21% caused by alcohol usage with bad weather, turbulent waters accounted for 14% and improper Boat loading accounted for 12% of the total. It noted that the stability of a Boat is affected by the weight and position of that weight on the Boat. When a boat starts everyone is in a stable position, then someone moves, shifting the weight that can upset the stability especially for boats under 16 feet when in fact, the load is to be distributed evenly and not over loaded. Similarly, the average death rate in 2005 for boating accidents for the U.S. was 5.4 per 100,000 registered boats. The highest was Florida with 8 deaths per 100,000 registered boats, and the lowest three states were North Dakota, Rhode Island and Vermont all of the with zero fatalities. However, among states with boating fatalities, New Hampshire and Indiana – the only two states that require PFD be worn at all times by everyone while boating had the lowest fatalities with 1 death per 100,000 boats registered, and 1.9 per 100,000, respectively.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Study Design
This study was descriptive and quantitative in approach. It adopts survey and data was collected from seafaring respondents (shipping crew members, master mariners, marine engineers, sailors, deck crew, cargo surveyors, safety coordinators and other onboard technicians) through semi- structured questionnaires.
Study Area
The study was carried out in Nigeria maritime industry, comprising offshore oil exploration and prospecting firms, Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Boats, merchant shipping companies, maritime service companies and Nigerian Port Authority in Nigeria. The Nigeria maritime sector is an embodiment of economic activities such as exploration, water transportation, deep and shallow water port operation, cargo and freight businesses etc.
Study Population
The study targeted maritime sector employees whose firms are currently operating in the coastal areas of Nigeria. There are over forty-six (46) of such licensed maritime firms with current operating activities in Lagos State and other locations like Warri, Delta State and Port Harcourt, Rivers State. A list from the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), the umbrella regulatory agency for the industry showed that an aggregate of 4,041 marine operators are currently employed with the listed firms. The population size was also authenticated by a list of registered members sighted at the secretariat of the National Association of Maritime and Dock Workers’ Union.
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Respondents’ Socio-demographic Characteristics
Socio- demographic
From the table above which shows the age distribution of respondents posited that 54(21.4%) fall within 20-24 years, 89(35.4%) respondents are within the age 25-29, 74(29.6%) of the respondents fall within age 30-34 years, 28(11.6%) of the respondents fall within age 35-39 while 5(1.9%) fall within 40-44 years, this shows that majority of the respondents are in their youthful age and literature has it that adolescent and youth are in the marine industry.
DISCUSSION
The study showed that nine (9) human related factors were identified as major causes of Boat accident; viz: poor crew interaction, crew fatigue, drugs and alcohol use, unsafe Boat speed, commercial pressure from management, complicated work processes, gap in working knowledge, faulty crew judgment and unruly behaviour. Out of the nine (9) important human errors, five (5) of them: crew fatigue, drugs and alcohol use, unsafe Boat speed, faulty crew judgment and unruly behaviour; were significant in predicting safety performance, which is defined as the extent or frequency of marine incident occurrence. Other factors responsible were negligence of watch keeping, careless fixing of ship’s position, poor preparation to departure, poor response to adverse weather conditions and negligence of lookouts. These results have found support in previous studies examining human factor determinants of Boat accidents (Frank, 2005; Bryant, 2000; Darbra, 2004).
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Conclusion
Safety of navigation and life at sea are important to coastal, flag states and the entire international shipping community in sustaining the growth of global seaborne trade. National governments and indeed the Federal government of Nigeria have committed considerable resources and efforts on programmes aimed at reducing the incidence of accident involving Boats at sea. For instance, the Maritime Administration of Nigeria recently expended considerable resources in clearing the waterways of abandoned wrecks to make for safe navigation. Again, The Maritime Guard Command (akin to the US Coast Guard) has been inaugurated to enforce shipping regulations. These efforts can greatly be enhanced by targeted intervention policies based on empirical analysis which identify specific accident risk factors. The categories of accident investigated in this study are fatal, non-fatal and damage accident. Results indicate that over 65% of accidents at sea involving Boats were of fatal and non-fatal category. Three categories of causality factors were of consideration in the study. These are human, environmental and machinery factors. The Human related factors accounted for over 50% of variations in the categories of accident investigated. This is followed by environmental factor which accounted for 30% while machinery factors accounted for 20% of accident risk factors. The human factors include the following: experience acquired by the Boat operator, safety training received, stowage condition of the Boat (overloading), and level of watching keeping maintained (improper lookout). These findings have implication on regulation and enforcement by relevant authorities. The level of regulation maintained by the flag states can reduce the contribution of these factors to accidents involving Boats at sea. Environmental factors investigated are: sea condition (current) and weather condition during navigation. Machinery factors include: equipment or machine failure. Environmental factors influences can be controlled to some extent by maintaining relevant database on tidal and weather forecasts. These results call to question the level of regulation or coastguard inspection by the responsible authority in Nigeria. Based on the findings of Dogarawa (2012), most marine crafts operating in Nigeria’s coastal and inland waterways are not registered (perhaps in attempts to evade taxation). This situation renders inspections on Boats’ construction and operating conditions difficult. Consequently, Boat accident would likely not be reported to the responsible authority to avoid arrests. Presently, it is not clear which government parastatal is responsible for coastguard duties. Although there is statutorily in place The Maritime Guard Command which is jointly operated by The Nigerian Navy and Personnel of Nigeria Maritime and Safety Agency (NIMASA) for coast guard responsibilities; but there appears to be a conflict of interests among other stakeholders: Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. There is considerable overlap of responsibilities of these organizations as provided in the Acts establishing them and this could be a source of the conflict. Thus, it has become imperative in view of safety of navigation, for the Federal government to resolve these issues and establish the responsible organization for coast guard duties. This study attempts to model Boat accident risk factors empirically using evidence from a developing country’s context. The cross sectional and largely perceptual nature of the data employed for this research may affect the generalizability of the findings. Perhaps, an enriched panel data describing Boat incidents and experiences of the operators over time may likely produce more robust results in future studies. Owing to the obvious limitations in data availability, no attempt was made to disaggregate the study based on classes, types of Boats and associated risk factors.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings of this study therefore, bring to the limelight the need for the following recommendations:
- With the perceived weak institutional setting, there is therefore the need to improve the institutional setting in order to boost external contribution to the economic as a whole. Even though Shipment Export has been found to contribute positively to the economy generally, whether in terms of contribution to gross domestic product, external reserve or external debt payment, one is tempted to say that more contributions would have been recorded with strong institutional setting.
- Similarly, the poor transparency and corruption that appear to be endemic in our country call for concerted effort to make for an improved performance.
- It has also been observed that information is grossly inadequate in the export . Hence, the need to improve the market information, especially in the areas of reporting and disclosure standards can hardly be over-emphasized. For instance, it appears disturbing that there seems to very wide gaps between what the Nigeria’s actual export receipts and the export targets. At best, this portends or lends further credence to the seeming over-orchestrated corrupt practices in high places in Nigeria.
- Above all, there is need for policy makers to be consistent, both in terms of formulation and policy implementation.
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