Marine Safety in Victoria Report 2007-2008 (PDF, 1.3 MB, 72 pp.)

5.3 Serious incidents (n=165)
There were 165 serious incidents recorded on the MIR system in 2007/8, an increase of 26% on the
previous year (n=131) (Figure 4).
5.3.1 Severity of ‘serious incidents’
Incident severity is captured in two variables: incident severity and injury status. Table 6 shows the results
of a cross tabulation of these variables for recreational ‘serious incidents’. Where data were inconsistent
(i.e. injury status = minor injury and incident severity = serious injury) a hierarchy was implemented
giving priority to personal injury severity (from fatality to minor injury) then property damage (vessel lost,
property damage, no damage).
Table 6
Recreational vessel ‘serious incidents’ by severity and year, Marine Incident Reporting
system 2006/7 and 2007/8
Previous year
2006/7
Current year
2007/8
N % N %
Fatal incident 3* 2 7
(9 deaths)
Missing person 1 1 - -
Serious injury 8 6 9 6
Minor injury 8 6 8 5
Vessel lost, minor injury - - 3 2
Vessel lost, no personal injury 8 6 9 5
Damage to property only, no personal injury 40 31 42 25
Other vessel damage - - 21 13
No damage, no personal injury 63 48 66 40
TOTAL 131 100 165 100
4
Note: *Two additional fatalities (of a boogie boarder and a scuba diver) were recorded under ‘response only’ incidents in 2006/7
Sixty percent of serious recreational vessel incidents in 2007/8 resulted in personal or property damage
compared with 47% in 2006/7 (Table 6). There were 16 fatal and serious injury incidents in 2007/8
compared with 10 (plus one missing person) in 2006/7.
Fatal incidents (n=7, 9 deaths)
There were 7 fatal incidents causing 9 deaths recorded on the MIR system in 2007/8 compared with 5 in
2006/7 (including two fatalities that were recorded as ‘response only’ incidents). Deaths were caused by
drowning (3), impact injuries related to collisions (4) and burns (2). Data from the MIR system allows a case
summary for each fatal incident to be developed:
Marine Safety in Victoria: July 2007 to June 2008 33