
The grounding of Atlantic Blue sparked the investigation
An investigation into Queensland pilotage operations has revealed “systemic safety issues” says Australian Transport Safety Bureau, ATSB. Under coastal pilotage regulations, no organisation, including the pilotage provider companies, has been made clearly responsible and held accountable for managing the safety risks associated with pilotage operations. This has meant that responsibility for managing the most safety critical aspects of pilotage has rested with individual pilot contractors instead of an organisation that systematically manages safety risk.
The investigation also identified systemic safety issues surrounding pilot training, fatigue management, incident reporting, competency assessment and use of coastal vessel traffic services. Continue reading »