Enclosed Space Survey Aims to Understand Why Seafarers Are Still Dying

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Ship managers and maritime professionals have joined forces to address concerns over the continuing deaths of seafarers and shore workers in enclosed spaces onboard ships.

InterManager, the international trade association for the ship management sector, has collaborated with The Nautical Institute and IMarEST to gain up to date information on the risks faced by workers in enclosed spaces on ships. Together they have launched an industry-wide survey which aims to collate feedback from those working on ships to delve deeper into what’s going wrong and understand better what solutions are needed.

The detailed online survey, which can be completed anonymously, asks seafarers to identify what aspects of enclosed space entry present risks for them and questions how involved in safety procedures they have been.

InterManager Secretary General, Captain Kuba Szymanski, said: “InterManager carried out a widespread survey in 2018 where we asked seafarers why fatal mistakes were still being made. From more than 5,000 responses we were able to understand more about the problem and since then we have worked tirelessly with industry partners to try to find effective ways of saving more lives.”

He continued: “Since 1998, InterManager has been collating statistics on behalf of the whole shipping industry and sharing them with partners and the International Maritime Organization. Sadly, from this information we can see that workers are still dying in enclosed spaces onboard ships despite numerous industry interventions. Now we’re conducting an even more in-depth survey which will help us to better understand the situation and empower us to work with industry colleagues to address this unacceptable situation.”

The number of enclosed space accidents occurring on an annual basis has not reduced significantly since 1998 when InterManager began compiling statistics.

In both 2022 and 2023 14 enclosed space incidents were recorded. However, there