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Serious Injuries and Fatalities
Injuries and fatalities are naturally of interest in the analysis of incident data. They represent the potential serious consequences that can result from boating activity. By examining the circumstances surrounding injuries and fatalities, action can be taken to reduce these outcomes from occurring in the future.
The circumstances surrounding injuries and fatalities differ between those found in an analysis of all incidents. That analysis can be found on other data pages on this web site. The focus here will be to determine how the circumstances differ and what specific areas can be addressed to reduce injuries and fatalities.
The incident database records all injuries and fatalities that occur in incidents. In most states and territories, an incident must be reported if it involves any injuries or fatalities. This means that data on injuries and fatalities is considered to be more comprehensive than in incidents where there were no injuries or fatalities.
Despite the higher level of reporting, it is likely that there is still some level of under-reporting of injuries. A report by the Monash University Accident Research Centre found that serious injuries in Victoria were under-reported by a factor of 10 to 1 1. This indicates that the incident database fails to capture many incidents involving injuries but is nevertheless a good source for the breakdown of their circumstances.
While the incident database records both minor and serious injuries, the above limitation means that the analysis here will be restricted to serious injury incidents only.
1 Monash University Accident Research Centre (October 2002) Marine Safety in Victoria a report prepared for Marine Safety Victoria by Monash University Accident Research Centre
