# Assessing Fatality Risks in Maritime Accidents: The Influence of Key Contributing Factors
## 4 Materials and Methods  
### Data Collection  
For the research purposes, we compiled data from multiple maritime accident investigation reports, ensuring a representative selection of cases where alcohol was a confirmed contributing factor. Reports were sourced from various organisations investigating the maritime accidents:  
* Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB)--UK government organisation authorised to investigate marine accidents in UK waters and also accidents involving UK registered ships worldwide. * Agencija za istrazivanje nesreca u zraacnom, pomorskom i elejeznickom prometu (AIN)--Croatian agency for the investigation of accidents in air, sea, and railway traffic. * Marine Accident and Incident Investigation Committee (MAIC)--responsible for the investigation of all types of marine accidents involving ships under the Cyprus flag, anywhere in the world; or maritime accidents that occur within Cyprus's territorial and internal waters. * Danish Maritime Investigation Board (DMAIB)--an independent body under the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs of Denmark. The DMAIB investigates accidents on Danish and Greenlandatic ships and accidents on foreign ships in Danish and Greenlandatic water. * The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB)--the Irish government agency for investigating all types of marine casualties related to, or on board, Irish registered vessels worldwide and other vessels in Irish territorial waters and inland waterways. * The Marine Safety Investigation Unit (MSIU)--an accident investigation body established to investigate maritime accidents involving Maltese-registered ships anywhere in the world and foreign-flagged ships operating in Maltese waters. * The Hellenic Bureau for Marine Casualties Investigation (HBMCI)--competent for investigating maritime incidents and casualties and for conducting of reports for the vessels floating under the Hellenic (Greek) flag and other vessels within the Hellenic territorial waters or within the Hellenic Search and Rescue region, provided that SAR services were delivered by Greek Authorities, as well as any casualty or incident that involves the substantial interests of Hellas. * Parstwwowa Komisja Badania Wypadkow Morskich (PKBWM)--an agency of the Polish government investigating maritime accidents. * The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB)--an independent agency investigating occurrences in the air, marine, pipeline, and rail modes of transportation. * The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)--an independent federal agency investigating accidents and significant events in the US for each transportation mode. * Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB)--investigates maritime (and also rail and air) accidents and contributes to preventing them, mitigating the damage caused by the accidents in order to increase safety. * Statens haverikommission (SHK)--the Swedish independent governmental authority under the Ministry of Defence that investigates all types of serious civil or military accidents and incidents to increase safety. * United States Coast Guard (USCG)--body responsible for preparing and publishing investigation reports in accordance with the federal statutes and regulations of the US. Each of these organisations specialises in the thorough investigation of maritime incidents and accidents. Within the databases, vessels of all types were selected (containers, tankers, bulk carriers, and RO-RO, as well as passenger and small vessels). Accidents of the following types were investigated:  
* Collision;
* Crush incident;
* Fatal fall;
* Grounding;
* Man overboard;
* Sinking. Only accidents where alcohol was a contributing factor, and those in which a breath or blood alcohol test was conducted, were included in the research. If the responsible person was under the influence of alcohol and had died, but no toxicology report was included in the autopsy, such a report was not a part of the research. For the analysis, 38 accident investigation reports were obtained from the period 2012-2024.