I was always extremely nervous when participating in Life boat drills and we had a few near misses - ALL due to inexperienced life boat captains who didn't know how to operate the equipment or got scared by the noises and motions the boat makes when the davits come out and the boat starts lowering - once, I actually had to physically remove the chief mate (as a cadet!!) from the operators seat, release the boat and maneuver away from the ship because he had no idea how to operate the equipment.
I went on to work on a passenger ferry as an officer and was life boat captain myself - I used an entire day getting acquainted with the operation and handling of the boat. During my first drill, I was in a boat with another officer and he turned out to have no idea how to launch the boat. This on a passenger vessel certified to carry in excess of 800 passengers... Scary stuff! I complained to the captain - who then responded "well we'll use the rafts in an emergency anyway"!?
So I do have to agree with the authorities who claim that most accidents are caused by lack of training - but this is no excuse! This just means that the owners and operators have to ensure much better training of their crews!
However, many accidents are also caused by lack of maintenance -
especially the falls have some serious short comings. You can't see if a fall is corroded and this results in crews and owners concluding that the falls are in good condition even though they have next to no strength left.
Topic: Nine rescued after tanker emergency drill accident (Read 2198 times)