Only seven fatalities during the 10-year study period occurred during locking operations. The QAT's analysis supports the conclusion that the towing vessel environment is a dynamic workplace with inherent hazards, most prominent among them the need for crewmembers to regularly perform routine tasks in close proximity to the edge of a boat or barge. The QAT believes that these causal factors can be addressed and the incidence of towing vessel crew fatalities reduced through a four-part program encompassing prevention measures, collection and dissemination of lessons learned, improved investigation and data collection techniques, and regular assessment of towing industry performance over time using a fatality rate model developed in this study. The QAT also recommends that AWO and the Coast Guard consider as possible subjects for future analysis use of the QAT report as a template for analysis of fatalities in other segments of the barge and towing industry, factors influencing survivability in the event of a fall overboard incident, and development of a means to measure the impact of fall prevention programs, policies, and procedures on vessel crew fatality rates. Moreover, senior employees may take calculated, unsafe risks that are being mimicked by new employees who are less able to deal with such risk-taking.
Safety is the foundation upon which the success of the industry is built.