Building a searchable incident database

It is a requirement in aviation to report accidents and certain incidents to maintain safe transport, though the motivation is not the same in sailing. While there remain significant risks on the water, concerns of rising costs and regulations may impact the willingness to participate in a reporting system. World Sailing is hoping the pros outweigh the cons… here is their pitch:

It is vital to the safety of sailors and equipment that all incidents are reported, and to make this process more straightforward the World Sailing incident reporting system allows anyone – race organizers, competitors, race officials, even spectators – to log an incident of any kind.

The Incident Reporting System allows all incidents at organized or recognized events, training prior to a World Sailing event to be logged, as well as during any training or racing run by a World Sailing Member National Authority (MNA) including on land or in the boat park as well as on the water.

This information is used to build a global database of safety incidents across all disciplines and give event organizers and class associations greater responsibility for sailors and officials at each event.

World Sailing is in a unique position to collect information, monitor trends, and implement updated safety regulations. As part of World Sailing’s focus on safety, the information collected will contribute to sharing of best practice across the wider sailing community.

An incident does not need to result in injury to be reported but can extend to keel loss, collisions, grounding, as well as highlighting potential issues and near misses. A growing recent trend has been contact with mega-fauna, such as whales and other marine life.

As an equipment-based sport, equipment failure poses many potential risks. While an exciting and quickly developing area of the sport, foiling brings its own safety challenges and World Sailing is interested to learn more of the challenges and risks posed to both sailor and race organizers.

The data will be used to refine events and equipment, modify safety protocols, and build a comprehensive, searchable record of all incidents without apportioning blame for the benefit of the entire sport.

For more information, click here.