b'SAFETY MATTERSSAFETYPreventing Slips, Trips, and Falls on Domestic Passenger Vessels ERIC CHRISTENSEN // PVA DIRECTOR OF REGULATORY AFFAIRS & RISK MANAGEMENTS lips, trips, and falls (STF) con- the result of STFs. This leading causeThe percentage of STF incidents in-tinuetobealeadingcauseofof injuries has remained primarily thecreased to 53 percent when other ini-injuryondomesticpassengersame for several years and PVA withtiating events like collisions, allisions, vessels and account for the majoritythe Coast Guard continue to identifyand groundings that caused the STFs of domestic passenger vessel report- areas of improvement. wereremoved.Workwascompleted able marine casualties affecting bothin 2017 and the PVA Preventing Slips, passenger and crew. Through aware- InApril2015,PVAincooperationTrips, and Falls manual was updated ness of causal factors, vessel operatorswiththeCoastGuardunderthein 2019 with the recommendations of candevelopeffectivemitigationQualityPartnershipcharteredthethe working group.strategies with the goal to reduce thefirst working group to study the STF number of incidents.issue.ThegroupanalyzedcasualtyPVA and Coast Guard leaders within data from 2010 to 2014 and developedtheQualityPartnershipdecidedto BACKGROUND prevention strategies as well as recom- continuetostudySTFsandcreated According to the U.S. Coast Guard- mendations to mitigate STF casualtiesastandingworkinggroupin2019 PVA Annual Report presented at theand improve Coast Guard data qual- tasked with analyzing STF data from May2025PVABoardofDirectorsity.Ofthe1,223personnelinjuries2015to2018.Theglobalpandemic meeting, there were 68 incidents fromreported to the Coast Guard by theand industry recovery stalled those ef-2022 through 2024 that resulted in 78domestic passenger industry betweenforts, but in 2023 work again began in serious, severe, or critical injuries; 552010and2014,436,or36percent,earnest and the data set was expanded percent (43/78) of these injuries wereweredirectlyassociatedwithSTFs.to the years 2015 through 2021. The analysis of the data was completed in 2024 and presented in January 2025 at the PVA Annual Convention at Mar-iTrends in Savannah, Ga.JUST THE STATSOf the 1750 reportable marine casual-DIGITAL SHIPBUILDERS ties in the Coast Guard database from DESIGN. BUILD. CONSULT. 2015 through 2021, 708 were consid-incatcrowther.com ered STFs; that is just over 40 percent of the reportable marine casualties. Inci-dents peaked in 2019 (pre-COVID-19) at 134. As expected, the low incident year was 2020 where there was also a higher percentage of the total incidents associated with crew.Goingintothereviewofreportable casualty data, the working group had certainpreconceivednotionsabout YANKEE FREEDOM IV34m Catamaran Passenger FerryFOGHORN 38'