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Background and Methodology
The NMSC Secretariat has been collecting incident data for a number of years. Since the NMSC’s foundation in 1997, the Secretariat has been working towards building a nationally consistent data set to aid in research, policy and standard writing.
What is a Marine Incident?
The NMSC defines a Marine Incident as an event causing or involving any of the following in connection with the operation of a vessel.
1. The death of, or injury to, any person on board a vessel, or caused by a vessel.
2. The loss of a person from a vessel.
3. The abandonment, loss or presumed loss of a vessel.
4. The collision of a vessel with another vessel or with an object.
5. The grounding, sinking, flooding or capsizing of a vessel.
6. A fire or explosion aboard a vessel.
7. Loss of stability affecting the safety of a vessel.
8. Structural failure of a vessel.
It is important to note that an incident must involve the operation of at least one vessel. For example, drownings of swimmers at the beach where no vessels are involved are not included in the incident data set.
Methodology
The NMSC Secretariat does not itself collect any incident data. This is the responsibility of each State and the Northern Territory. In most states and territories, when an incident occurs within that state or territory, it is a legislative requirement for the incident to be reported. The method by which an incident is reported can vary slightly between states and territories, with some relying on self-reporting while others rely on the police authorities.
Every month, each State and the Northern Territory provides the Secretariat with an extract of all its reported incidents since January 2001. These extracts are checked for specification errors and then loaded into the NMSC Incident Database. The database can then be queried using third-party software applications to produce a variety of reports, graphs and tables.
Data Limitations
While every effort has been made to produce a nationally consistent, reliable and timely data set, some outstanding issues have prevented this outcome from being met. The under-reporting of incidents has been recognised as one such limitation. Despite the mandatory requirements to report an incident, many incidents are not reported, particularly those that are less serious in nature. This can hamper meaningful analysis and lead to incorrect conclusions.
Slight differences in the requirements to report an incident between the States and the Northern Territory can impact on consistency. For example, in South Australia an incident is only required to be reported if there is injury requiring medical attention, death or property damage in excess of $300. Other states and the territory record a wider range of incidents. This can cause inconsistencies when the data is aggregated and impact on conclusions.
How incidents are classified, recorded and mapped to NMSC codes also has a bearing on meaningful data analysis. For example, Western Australia does not provide the Secretariat with human contributing factors in incidents. Subjectivity in how the circumstances of an incident are coded can also occur and lead to inconsistencies when aggregating.
Despite these limitations, the National Marine Incident Database is the only current source of marine incidents on a national level. The Secretariat is committed to further improvements in the quality and consistency of the data with the cooperation of each State and the Northern Territory marine authority. As improvements occur the Secretariat will update its analysis on this website.
