Under IMO conventions, the flag State has a duty to investigate any casualty which occurs on/to any of its ships (subject to the provisions of relevant conventions) and to report its findings to IMO through the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS) platform. IMO organized the first in person national training on casualty investigation and reporting in partnership with the government of Guinea since the outbreak of Covid-19 (10 to 21 October).
The objective of the training is to enhance, strengthen and harmonize the efforts of IMO Member States in developing their marine casualty investigation capabilities, as a part of a comprehensive and global programme of action to improve the rate of investigation and reporting of marine casualties and incidents. Two external consultants and one IMO officer conducted the high-level, two weeks training.
Twenty-two participants from maritime administrations and the industry of Guinea who took part in the workshop were taken through the key elements of the role of marine casualty investigator from the understanding of the notion of marine casualty, country's responsibilities, the set-up of the investigation, to implementing mandatory standards, identifying risks, the human elements, the analysis, preparing and reporting incidents.
Following evaluation of the training and feedback received from lecturers and participants, further improvements will be made to the existing programme materials on marine casualty investigation for enhanced delivery of future trainings.