Lack of Progress in Implementing Conception Safety Recommendations

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says more needs to be done to implement the 10 new safety recommendations issued in wake of the Conception dive boat fire.

The Conception was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, California, when it caught fire in the early morning of September 2, 2019. The vessel burned to the waterline, killing 33 diving passengers and one crew member sleeping below deck in the bunk room.

NTSB encourages operators of vessels with overnight accommodations to:

• Install smoke detectors in all accommodation spaces and ensure they are interconnected so when one detector goes off, they all do. While the Conception berthing space did have smoke detectors, they were the only ones on the vessel and would only alarm locally in the berthing space and not throughout the entire vessel.

• Ensure that the primary and secondary emergency escape paths do not lead to the same space, which can be blocked by a single hazard. The Conception had two means of escape from the lower deck bunk room, but both led into the salon on the deck above, which was filled with heavy smoke and fire. Tragically, the salon compartment was the only escape path to the outside weather deck. Because there was fire in the salon, the passengers and a crew member were trapped below.

• Vessel owners and operators should designate and maintain roving patrols at all times when bunks or berthing spaces are occupied. Our investigation found that the Conception fire was uncontrollable by the time it was discovered because no crew members were assigned roving patrol duties on board the Conception, even though it was a condition of operation on their COI.

• Keep escape routes unobstructed at all times.

• Implement a safety management system. Had an SMS been implemented, Truth Aquatics could have identified unsafe practices and fire risks on the Conception and taken corrective action before the tragedy.

Note: Traveling Divers: As you climb onboard your liveaboard, always conduct a personal inspection with the above in mind.

From an article by Mike Schuler in gCaptain, September 1.