Passenger Claims:

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Claim Prevention

'prevention is better than cure'

Passenger care
Maintaining high standards
Observing and controlling passenger behaviour

Passenger care

The first step we recommend is to promote passenger care. This should comprise of safety inspections, safety guidance for passengers and crew training in passenger safety.

The Safety Inspection

Many owners visit their vessel on an almost daily basis and it is sometimes difficult for them to view the vessel objectively. Time must however be found to carry out a careful physical inspection trying to view the vessel afresh to see where potential hazards may arise. Masters should be encouraged to conduct regular inspections of the vessel and a suggested checklist to assist in this process is contained in Annex 1. It is important that whoever conducts the inspection does so from a passenger's point of view and not from that of a person who is thoroughly familiar with vessels. What could be a hazard to passengers may not be obvious to a mariner.

The most important single factor in preventing passenger accidents is to ensure that all decks, dance floors, stairways and gangways and other areas on which passengers tread have non-slip surfaces, even when wet. When examining these surfaces you should bear in mind that many people may come on board your vessel wearing totally unsuitable footwear. If your vessel is open to the public you must expect this and ensure that non-slip surfaces remain effective whatever the circumstances.

Ensure that all decks, stairways and gangways … have non-slip surfaces.

The use of non-slip materials should however not be restricted solely to the decks of the vessel. Handrails should also be non-slip. We have seen a number of cases where elderly passengers have fallen because they were unable to get a good grip of wet gloss painted handrails.

The next most common cause of a slip or fall is tripping hazards. These include tops and bottoms of stairways, door sills or any abrupt change in deck level. One of the most effective methods of dealing with these hazards is to use colour to emphasise the change in level. Large, easily read warning notices also help in preventing accidents of this nature.

Embarking/disembarking passengers may experience difficulty stepping between ship, gangway and shore if the vessel is moving due to wave action. Areas of particular hazard such as these should always be manned by crew members to provide assistance where necessary.

Lighting is another area which deserves your attention. Many accidents occur when passengers move between areas where there is a marked change in light intensity. A typical scenario is where a passenger wearing sunglasses moves from a bright, sunny open deck into a relatively dimly lit accommodation space. The combination of the change in light intensity, sunglasses and the reaction time of his pupils can result in temporary blindness. Conversely bright sunlight and white paintwork can dazzle a passenger emerging from a dimly lit interior. Both these problems can be alleviated to some extent by utilising high intensity lighting near accommodation entrances. With the exception of access ways however variations in the intensity of lighting within the vessel should be avoided.

Safety Guidance

The majority of passengers are not familiar with the hazards that a vessel presents and could benefit from guidance whilst on board. This should be given in the safety announcement prior to departure. Annex 2 contains suggestions for the basic content of an initial safety announcement. The Public Address system should also be used to let passengers know of any changes in circumstances during the course of the voyage, for example worsening weather conditions and the additional safety precautions that should be taken. Additionally, owners should use posters and safety cards to give advice to passengers. They may like to make use of the Passenger Safety Card published by the Club. The card, which can be found in Annex 3, is based on those used by the airline industry and draws passengers' attention to a number of different scenarios which in our experience often cause accidents.

Crew Training

When an accident happens it is too late to start learning how to deal with the situation. We recommend that crews are regularly exercised in handling passenger related incidents, for example:-

• trips and falls
• man overboard
• lost children
• crowd control (for example, during a fire)

Emphasis should be placed on good passenger care as described later in this booklet.

We suggest that a proactive company safety policy should be put in place and crew members actively encouraged to participate in accident prevention. All crew should be instructed to take immediate corrective action if unsafe practices are observed and thereafter make a report to the vessel's management . We would suggest that safety forums are held regularly with crew members so that safety ideas and observations can be exchanged and considered.

Maintaining high standards

The second step in accident prevention is to ensure that high standards are maintained on board the vessel at all times.

Crew must be properly trained and supervised to ensure that the highest standards of housekeeping are observed when passengers are on board. Your crew must be instructed in the importance of ensuring that drinks spilt on dance floors, broken glass and other hazards are cleared up immediately. Any equipment or furniture which is found to be defective should be removed from service immediately.

Washrooms need to be inspected at regular intervals to ensure proper hygiene standards and that the floors remain dry. Routine maintenance such as deck washing which can create hazards should not be undertaken while passengers are on board and all cleaning gear and other loose equipment should be properly stowed away when not in use. Emergency escapes should be kept clear at all times and not used for storage purposes.

Observing and controlling passenger behaviour

Once you have examined your vessel and trained your crew, the last step is to take time to monitor passenger behaviour and control it accordingly

Observing and controlling passenger behaviour go hand in hand.

Good loss prevention requires anticipation of passenger behaviour. If the causes of potential claims can be foreseen, they can either be prevented from happening in the first place or controlled to reduce the likelihood of an incident arising. Although we all like to think upon ourselves as individuals, passengers do tend to have the same overall curiosity and interest in their marine surroundings, so pre-empting situations is not as difficult as it may seem.

Observing and controlling passenger behaviour go hand in hand.

Circumstances can arise when the actions of passengers, for their own safety and that of others, will have to be controlled. Crew members' rank, ability and the particular circumstances should be considered when delegating crowd control duties. The delegation of controlling passengers should be in line with the particular circumstances and the crew member's rank and ability. For instance a young stewardess trying to control rowdy party goers could prove ineffective.

When guiding passengers all verbal instructions given should be firm and clear.
The public address system is a worthwhile tool for controlling passengers. It can be used as a means of conveying instructions to passengers as well as for giving advice for example, precautions to be taken if adverse weather conditions are expected.

Crew members should be easily identified so as to avoid any possible confusion, especially in emergency situations. Consideration could be given to providing crew members with distinctively coloured baseball caps or waistcoats if uniforms are not standard issue.

Crew members should be easily identified so as to avoid any possible confusion……..

Hazards created by passengers

Many hazards are created by the actions of the passengers themselves. A typical example of this is where passengers in a hurry to leave a ferry, crowd on to the stairs when the vessel is docking. A slight error on the part of the Master in the docking manoeuvre might result in a jolt which could cause passengers on the stairs to lose their balance.

If behavioural problems are considered a possibility then the passengers should be advised against such actions and consideration given to restricting access to the area concerned.

Passengers are curious

Passengers find many aspects of ship operation extremely interesting and tend to crowd around any activity. Many injuries have arisen when passengers have been allowed to get too close to mooring ropes and other potentially hazardous operations.

It is essential that passengers are kept at a safe distance from these activities. It is not enough simply to ask passengers to stand back. They may move back initially, but, as curiosity and the press of other passengers from behind increases, the crowd will inevitably slowly move forward again into the danger area unless there is a physical barrier. Work areas must therefore be cordoned off with a physical barrier such as a gate, rope or chain.

Behaviour in heavy weather

Passenger behaviour in heavy weather is a frequent source of accidents. Some passengers find the wild conditions exhilarating and we have seen a number of cases where passengers have been injured as a result of being on exposed weather decks, particularly the bow, in bad weather.

Passenger behaviour in heavy weather is a frequent source of accidents.

Your crew should be alert to the dangers and should take steps to warn passengers of the risks. If conditions deteriorate causing a significant hazard your crew should not hesitate in restricting access to exposed areas.

The risk of accidents also increases within the accommodation when the weather deteriorates. Passengers should be advised to remain seated and discouraged from moving around unnecessarily. Bad weather also increases the likelihood of burns and scalds from hot food and beverages. Consideration should be given to restricting catering services to cold food and drink if the vessel's motion becomes particularly violent.

The young and elderly

Special attention should be given to the problems created by the very young and the elderly.

Children typically enjoy climbing. It is therefore important that equipment such as life jacket boxes and seating should not be sited adjacent to the ship's rail or rails around stairwells.

If small children are carried on your vessel, consideration should be given to replacing rails with solid bulwarks or stretching netting along rails to prevent small children slipping between them.

The elderly require special consideration as many of them are no longer agile or steady on their feet.

Stairways should be designed… to allow passengers to hold onto handrails on both sides.

You must ensure that handrails are adequate. It is particularly important that handrails on stairs extend sufficiently beyond the stair to allow passengers using the stairways to get both feet onto the level deck at both the top and the bottom of the stairwell without having to let go of the rail. Where possible stairways should be designed or subdivided to allow passengers to hold onto handrails on both sides while ascending or descending the stairway.

Weather deck doors fitted with powerful automatic spring closers can be a problem for the elderly. The frail often lose their balance struggling with these doors. High door sills also pose a problem which can be alleviated by fitting a step and handrails adjacent to the sill. The danger of children getting their fingers trapped in the door frame of a closing door can be reduced by the fitting of protection devices.

Passengers enjoying their cruise

Passengers cruise to sightsee, unwind, enjoy themselves or to celebrate and in adjusting to the ambiance of their surroundings, some passengers can become boisterous and full of bravado if allowed to drink to excess. Such people are a danger to themselves and other passengers. This type of behaviour should be stopped by the crew, albeit in a tactful manner, before it becomes a problem or gets out of hand. The Club has handled claims which have had drink as the root cause and at least one has included accusations of permitting under age drinking to take place on board.

…..some passengers can become boisterous and full of bravado when drinking excessively.

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