SECTION 4 - Marine Accident Investigation Branch

SECTION 4 - ACTIONS TAkEN
Acromas Group has:
• Tasked the Acromas Shipping Ltd internal audit team to examine all aspects of
the refit, in particular:
• the effectiveness of the project management;
• product quality;
• increasing involvement of the ship’s officers and crew;
• consequences of the overweight lifeboats; and
• delays to the refit completion date.
Acromas Shipping Ltd has:
• Appointed a Director of Risk to take a holistic view on company risk.
• Promulgated its internal accident report to the Saga fleet and instructed that the
safety issues be discussed during safety meetings.
• Instructed vessels of the Saga fleet that:
• Bowsing tackles and tricing pennants fitted to enclosed tender/lifeboats
should only be operated from the coach roof.
• Safety harnesses and tethers, and inflatable lifejackets are to be worn by
lifeboat preparation crews.
• Amended Chapter 7 – Protection in Launching Areas – of the mv Saga
Sapphire’s LSA Training Manual and Survival Techniques to include a new
Section 7.4 covering the use of safety harnesses when preparing lifeboats
(Annex M).
• Replaced all bowsing tackle lines with 24mm polypropylene ropes.
• Endorsed the use of the “yellow” bar welded to the lifeboats’ lifting plate as
a back-up to securing the bowsing tackle tail rope to the block bitts 9 . The
class surveyor has conducted limited non-destructive tests on the ‘yellow bar’
connection welds and is preparing a report on his observations.
• On 8 June 2012, replaced Nos 4 and 5 tenders on board Saga Sapphire with
two, 130-person, Ernst Hatecke, Type PEL 9.7, partially enclosed lifeboats.
• Instigated a fleet-wide review of the SMS documentation to ensure, where
instructions are ship-specific, it is current and appropriate to the individual
vessel.
• Applied a non-slip surface to the relevant areas of Saga Sapphire’s tenders.
9 The implications of this practice are discussed at Section 2.4.3
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