Accident Analysis of River Boats Capsize in Indian Inland Waters and Safety Aspects Related to Passenger Transportation

Inland waterway transportation (IWT) is one of the oldest economically and environmentally sustainable modes of transportation for passengers and cargo. India has an estimated navigable length of 14,500 km of inland waterways, including river systems, canals, backwaters, creeks and tidal inlets, that can effectively support mechanized crafts. Besides this, country boats of various capacities also operate in various rivers and canals. In IWT sector, the environmental conditions, nature of operations, human error (crew and passengers) and lack of safety standards, etc., pose a number of risks to safety of passengers and vessels. Though this sector is economically viable, the rate of accidents are high and need to be focused to minimize the accidents. Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is the scientific method that is being currently used for the analysis of maritime safety and for the formulation of related regulatory policies.

This paper discusses the methodologies involved in FSA, highlights the qualitative analysis in hazard identification and risk analysis process i.e., hazards that are identified during various operations in IWT sector and by using the expert judgment, these hazards are prioritized by the risk ranking matrix. Accident analysis of recent boat accidents that occurred at various locations of inland waters is presented by means of fault tree diagrams focusing the faults of the top event (capsize) as part of qualitative risk analysis. Further, it discusses the safety aspects related to the passenger transportation, highlighting the human errors and operational risks in IWT sector of India. This paper concludes by suggesting the measures to reduce the risk to the passengers and vessels related to various operational and environmental conditions.

Inland waterway transportation (IWT) is one of the oldest economically and environmentally sustainable modes of transportation for passengers and cargo. India has an estimated navigable length of 14,500 km of inland waterways, including river systems, canals, backwaters, creeks and tidal inlets, that can effectively support mechanized crafts. Besides this, country boats of various capacities also operate in various rivers and canals. In IWT sector, the environmental conditions, nature of operations, human error (crew and passengers) and lack of safety standards, etc., pose a number of risks to safety of passengers and vessels. Though this sector is economically viable, the rate of accidents are high and need to be focused to minimize the accidents. Formal Safety Assessment (FSA) is the scientific method that is being currently used for the analysis of maritime safety and for the formulation of related regulatory policies.

This paper discusses the methodologies involved in FSA, highlights the qualitative analysis in hazard identification and risk analysis process i.e., hazards that are identified during various operations in IWT sector and by using the expert judgment, these hazards are prioritized by the risk ranking matrix. Accident analysis of recent boat accidents that occurred at various locations of inland waters is presented by means of fault tree diagrams focusing the faults of the top event (capsize) as part of qualitative risk analysis. Further, it discusses the safety aspects related to the passenger transportation, highlighting the human errors and operational risks in IWT sector of India. This paper concludes by suggesting the measures to reduce the risk to the passengers and vessels related to various operational and environmental conditions.