The annual report of UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has been issued and it highlights the work of the branch for the last year.
The report indicates that the accidents for 2014, including casualties and incidents, reported to MAIB are 1,270 involving 1,420 vessels. In thirty three of the accidents involved were only non-commercial vessels. There were 424 occupational accidents that did not involve any actual or potential casualty to a vessel, while 822, involving 953 commercial vessels, involved actual or potential casualties to vessels.
In 2014 for the first time in 50 years, no crew on UK merchant vessels of over 100 gt lost their life. For the fifth straight year it was reported that no UK merchant vessels of over 100gt were lost. Unchanged from 2013 stays the overall accident rate for UK merchant vessels of over 100gt - 88 per 1,000 vessels.
The report for vessels under 100gr shows that lost were 4 with 5 crew deaths. The worst accident involved the the yacht Cheeki Rafiki which capsized in the North Atlantic following due to detached keel. All four crew members vanished.
The number of lost commercial fishing vessels decreased from 18 in 2013 to 12 in 2014, but the number of fishermen lost their lives increased from 4 in 2013 to 8 in 2014.
The full report can be found here and includes accidents overview, a summary of investigations started and details of those already published, statistics of marine accidents and responses to already issued recommendations.