Seattle Injury Lawyer Blog

Fishing vessel sinking may have been due to tangled crab pot lines

November 30, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The Lady Cecilia sank quickly March 10 about 20 miles west of Leadbetter Point. The four people onboard could neither escape nor send a distress signal.

After it received a hit from the boat’s Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, the Coast Guard assembled an extensive search party including planes, helicopters and boats from Sacramento, Calif., to Port Angeles, Wash. The agency located a debris field but no sign of the vessel or the men. Coast Guard investigators from Marine Safety Unit Portland have since worked with NOAA to determine a cause for the tragedy. Since then, investigations have been underway to determine the cause of the sinking.

Hearings on the sunken fishing vessel Lady Cecelia had stalled since April, when the U.S. Coast Guard brought in the vessel’s owner, former captains and deckhands, marine examiners, boat mechanics and family to gather information on the boat, the crew and their situation before and during their final fishing trip.

Coast Guard crews search for missing ms Eurodam cruise ship passenger

November 29, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Coast Guard search and rescue crews are searching for a missing passenger from the Holland America Line cruise ship Eurodam, who reportedly disappeared early Thursday morning while the vessel was transiting from St. Thomas to the Bahamas, approximately 80 nautical miles northwest of Puerto Rico.

Coast Guard Watchstanders in Sector San Juan received notification from the cruise line at 5 a.m. Thursday notifying that a 42-year-old man and Washington resident had possibly gone overboard. The cruise line reported the wife of the missing passenger alerted the crew of the Eurodam of her husband’s disappearance.

The Coast Guard received notification from the Eurodam after an initial preliminary search of the ship located a baseball cap on the ship’s deck that was confirmed by the wife of the missing passenger as belonging to him.

Study directly connects crash risk with truck driver obesity

November 27, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Commercial trucking is a vital part of this nation’s industry and a critical element of its functioning economy. Unfortunately, commercial trucking is also uniquely dangerous. Because any truck malfunction or human error can cause injury and death to innocent motorists and passengers who just happen to be near a truck when it becomes unsafe, the safety issues affecting this particular industry uniquely concern the public at large.

Though it is ordinarily no one else’s business whether a worker is obese or not, a new study suggests that the public interest may be affected when truckers are obese. Due to consequences of obesity, like truck driver fatigue resulting from severe weight-related sleep apnea, the results of the study which links trucker obesity with an increased crash risk make the healthy weight of commercial truckers very much the public’s business.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Accident Analysis and Prevention, was led by an expert from the University of Minnesota at Morris. Researchers followed nearly 750 drivers for two years before analyzing their crash risk as compared to their normal or obese body composition.

Coast Guard responds to a barge that struck the walls of the lock approach to The Dalles in the Columbia River

November 26, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The U.S. Coast Guard, has engaged federal and state partners in their response to a report of a barge that struck the walls of the lock approach to The Dalles while transiting on the Columbia River at approximately 3 a.m., Friday.

The double-bottom barge Tri-City Voyager, which was being pushed by the tug Defiance, has approximately 1,770,000 gallons of diesel fuel on board. The Dalles lock operators reported, to the Coast Guard, no smell of diesel fuel and no visible pollution. There are no reports of a hazard to navigation in the Columbia River. No injuries were reported.

Coast Guard Sector Columbia River command center received a call at 3:13 a.m., from the agent of the Tidewater Tug Co., stating that the Tri-City Voyager struck an object in the water while transiting north on the Columbia River near The Dalles Dam. Defiance crewmembers conducted an immediate assessment, which included a sounding of their fuel tanks and bottom hull, and saw no breech and reported no pollution.

Safety of new 520 Floating Bridge called into question

November 26, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The Seattle PI reported today that a former quality control inspector says the quality of the first pontoons built in Aberdeen by Kiewit Construction was so shoddy that it’s a “disaster waiting to happen,” and that once built he would not drive on the bridge due to safety concerns. At the same time, a scathing internal audit shows that the state failed to hold contractor Kiewit accountable.

The inspector interviewed by the PI was an onsite quality inspector at Kiewit Construction’s pontoon casting basin in Aberdeen last winter. He was there during construction of the first six massive concrete pontoons designed to hold up the new 520 bridge. He was part of a Quality Assurance subcontractor team, O’Neill Environmental, hired by contractor Kiewit to ensure correct pontoon construction. The QA, as it’s called, is required by the state Department of Transportation’s (WSDOT) contract with Kiewit.

He’s been an inspector for 10 years and the new 520 Floating Bridge project is the worst he has seen with respect to quality of work. The inspector confirmed what two expert insiders had previously told the PI, that construction of the first pontoons was so shoddy it undermines the structural integrity and safety of the new 520 bridge.

Fire aboard fishing vessel moored at Fisherman’s Terminal

November 16, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

There was a fire early this morning aboard a 50-foot commercial fishing vessel berthed at Fisherman’s Terminal, just west of the Ballard Bridge. According to Seattle fire, crews found the boat burning when they arrived on scene just after 4 a.m. Friday. Firefighters used foam to control the fire within four minutes.

The fire was reportedly caused by a faulty electrical outlet in the galley. The fire department estimates damage at $200,000.

NHTSA reminds parents that safe teen driving requires restrictions

November 13, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Becoming a licensed driver is a rite of passage in the lives of American youth. Some parents take an active role in their children’s initial driving years, while others adopt more of a “sink or swim” approach. Regardless of their methods, most parents care deeply about their children’s safety behind the wheel. However, evidence strongly suggests that teens whose parents actively teach, monitor and enforce restrictions related to their driving habits are less likely to be involved in devastating car accidents.

As a result, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently urged parents to create and enforce driving safety limits and general rules for teens who are old enough to be behind the wheel. While it may often seem as if teens do not care how their parents act or what they say, evidence supports the premise that parental modeling and rule enforcement have a significant impact in the driving habits that teens develop.

This message is critical, given that motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death among older American teenagers. So what can parents do specifically to keep their teens safer? The NHTSA suggests the following:

Coast Guard to conduct Operation Safe Crab

November 2, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The Coast Guard will again be conducting Operation Safe Crab, an initiative to reduce the loss of lives and fishing vessels in the west coast crab fleet.

California’s crab season is scheduled to begin Nov. 15 for the central coast from Avila-Morro Bay, Calif., to the mouth of the Russian River, and Dec. 1 for the northern coast from the Russian River to the Oregon border. Coast Guard personnel will be available on the docks for dockside exams in ports from Monterey, Calif., to Crescent City, Calif., Nov. 6-8 to help identify and mitigate safety hazards in the crab fleet.

Coast Guard personnel will be walking the docks and informing commercial crab vessel operators of the required lifesaving equipment for their vessels, as well as pot-loading practices affecting vessel stability and watertight integrity. The 2010 Authorization Act changed the law for commercial fishing vessels, making it mandatory for vessels operating outside of three nautical miles to have a dockside examination after Oct. 15, 2012. Dockside exams have reduced the number of casualties and helped identify potential problems. 11th Coast Guard District statistics show nearly one-third of Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons and life rafts carried on board were incorrectly installed. This type of situation is easily corrected and can help prevent a disaster at sea. Those vessels with serious safety discrepancies, such as overloading, lack of watertight integrity, missing primary life saving equipment or non-functioning EPIRB’s, can be restricted from operating until the discrepancies are corrected.

Coast Guard orders Washington State Ferries to add more staff

October 31, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

The U.S. Coast Guard is ordering Washington State Ferries to increase the number of crew members on its largest vessels to improve safety. On Friday, Coast Guard officials decided that the state needs one more crewman added to the minimum on the Jumbo class of 188-car vessels used on the Edmonds-Kingston run and other routes. They also want to beef up the number and skills of crew members on the smaller Super class 144-car ferries. The revised crew requirements must be in place by the end of November, according to the eight-page letter sent to state and ferry worker union officials.

Historically, the ferries assigned more crew on each sailing than the minimum, so if an employee got sick, overslept or got delayed by a flat tire it did not result in a run being scuttled. In June, the state reduced the number of crew members on the Jumbo and Super classes of vessels to what the Coast Guard then considered the minimum needed for safe operation of the boats, shrinking crews by up to three people. Since then dozens of runs have been canceled when a crew members fails to show up because of illness or other reasons. To comply with the new Coast Guard requirements, the ferries may have to hire the equivalent of nine to 12 full-time employees. The cost of compliance is still unknown.

CDC Statistics on Commercial Fishing Injuries and Deaths

October 25, 2012 | Kraft Davies Olsson PLLC

Commercial fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States. Many commercial fishing operations are characterized by hazardous working conditions, strenuous labor, long work hours and harsh weather. During 2000-2010, an annual average of 46 deaths occurred (124 deaths per 100,000 workers), compared with an average of 5,466 deaths (4 per 100,000 workers) among all U.S. workers. In 2008, over 8 billion pounds of seafood was harvested in the United States earning over $4.4 billion. Species that contributed the most to this revenue include shrimp, Pacific salmon, pollock and lobster. There are approximately 115,000 harvesters in the United States using a variety of different fishing gear and vessels.

On the CDC website listed below, there are a variety of graphs and charts related to commercial fishing safety. The charts show the type of dangers most likely to cause injury or death, most dangerous regions of the country for commercial fishermen, most dangerous fisheries, and the relation between fishing injuries and changes to safety standards. This data is useful in identifying the aspects of commercial fishing where safety could be improved.

To view the above-discussed charts see: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/fishing/