Disney Overboard Case and Man Overboard Detection Technology
The young girl who fell from the 4th deck of the Disney Dream cruise ship on June 29th was fortunate to have the world’s best man overboard (MOB) detection system on watch – a vigilant parent. But such a dedicated and trustworthy system is not always nearby when such a tragic event occurs, when a person falls or jumps from an ocean-going vessel.
As a veteran search and rescue mission coordinator for the U.S. Coast Guard, I’ve responded to hundreds of MOB events from not only cruise ships but cargo vessels, commercial fishing vessels, and even oil and gas rigs.
Unfortunately, the majority of notifications of these events occurred not just minutes after the fact, but often hours and in some instances, days! This caused a substantial amount of uncertainty in the exact location of the person going overboard, which significantly limited the accuracy of any search planning and the ability to mount an effective response. Indeed, less than 19% of all persons in the water cases ever yield a life saved.
The authors of the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act (CVSSA) of 2010 anticipated that technology would soon be available to help search planners and response crews improve on that dismal number and ultimately save more lives. Within the CVSSA, § 3507(a)(1)(D) states that passenger vessels “…shall integrate technology that can be used for capturing images of passengers or detecting passengers who have fallen overboard, to the extent that such technology is available.”
Fortunately, the wait is over, and that technology is available today.
Cutting-edge MOB detection systems are available that can reliably detect the fall event and near-instantaneously alert the bridge, allowing for a much more effective response. The more elite of these systems can even continuously track the person in the water until they have been successfully rescued.
The International Standards Organization (ISO) has developed standards for such systems. ISO 21195, Systems for the detection of persons while going overboard from ships (man overboard detection), requires that MOB detection systems operate at a 95% probability of detection and generate no more than one false alert per day. To ensure that a system meets these standards, classification societies such as Lloyd’s Register conduct rigorous testing known as Type Approval.
To date, at least two companies have produced MOB detection systems that have passed controlled dockside testing with a 95% or better probability of detection: MARSS MOBtronic and Zelim’s ZOE Intelligent Lookout.
Beyond simply detecting the person falling from a vessel, the Holy Grail for SAR responders is a system that also tracks the exact location of the person in the water until they can be rescued. Any mariner who has experienced an MOB event knows how challenging it can be to continue to track the person in turbulent waters, especially while safely navigating the vessel and mounting a response.
Although neither the ISO 21195 standard nor the CVSSA of 2010 requires it, a system that can detect the fall event and then continue to track the person until rescue would all but ensure that a life will be saved, provided the person survives the fall.
So, where does all of this leave the safety of passengers aboard cruise ships around the world? At the time the CVSSA was passed, the MOB detection technology was not yet available. The U.S. Coast Guard instructed its Sector Commanders not to enforce this provision of the Act through a policy memo, CG-543 Policy Letter 11-09, of June 2011. Now that the technology is available, the U.S. Coast Guard faces the daunting task of enforcing regulations that, although not new, are being newly implemented in a climate that is not amenable to adding new burdens to industry.
But the industry does not need to wait for the U.S. Coast Guard to begin enforcement activities to adopt this lifesaving technology. Instead of waiting for government regulators, the cruise ship and passenger vessel industries can take the initiative to safeguard their customers and demonstrate a willingness to innovate beyond the requirements of law.
The next time a passenger goes overboard from a cruise ship, and the captain of the ship is forced to make a call to the U.S. Coast Guard, will it be to tell them that someone went overboard at some time, exact position unknown, or will it be to inform them that their MOB detection system alerted them to a fall, and they were able to successfully rescue the person without complication? The choice is theirs.
