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ITD · 03-15-2008, 12:22 PM

There is one thing that truly troubles me about this whole incident. From the article:

"Welch explained that the MOB "never took" and that he pressed it once but needed to press it more to get though some menu options he didn't know existed. Welch told Ouellette he wasn't that familiar with that piece of electronic equipment and as a result, there was never a man overboard point logged"

I would expect that man overboard drills would be routine on the Mount. Procedures should be well defined and all crew with a task. Something as basic as how the MOB feature works should be second nature to the captain and anyone else who regularly spends time in the wheel house. It sounds to me like this was the first time that captain had pushed that button, and if it wasn't, that he didn't understand how to use the function. I would also hope that the crew would be trained to jump to action with set tasks, such as one person locates the man overboard, another throws a life ring, someone else prepares to recover. I think the company may have some liability here, not from serving alcohol, but from being improperly prepared for what should be a routine emergency.

The witnesses could have helped (and maybe they did) by tossing a life ring immediately and looking and pointing to the spot where the victim landed. If somebody had just focussed on the spot where this guy went in and kept pointing to it they may have been able to retrieve him.

I don't think the family should collect a penny because the company served this guy, I think that is all on him and his wife, but I hope the Mount is better prepared if someone falls overboard in the future.

03-15-2008, 12:22 PM	#22
ITD Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Moultonboro, NH Posts: 2,941 Thanks: 481 Thanked 695 Times in 390 Posts	There is one thing that truly troubles me about this whole incident. From the article: "Welch explained that the MOB "never took" and that he pressed it once but needed to press it more to get though some menu options he didn't know existed. Welch told Ouellette he wasn't that familiar with that piece of electronic equipment and as a result, there was never a man overboard point logged" I would expect that man overboard drills would be routine on the Mount. Procedures should be well defined and all crew with a task. Something as basic as how the MOB feature works should be second nature to the captain and anyone else who regularly spends time in the wheel house. It sounds to me like this was the first time that captain had pushed that button, and if it wasn't, that he didn't understand how to use the function. I would also hope that the crew would be trained to jump to action with set tasks, such as one person locates the man overboard, another throws a life ring, someone else prepares to recover. I think the company may have some liability here, not from serving alcohol, but from being improperly prepared for what should be a routine emergency. The witnesses could have helped (and maybe they did) by tossing a life ring immediately and looking and pointing to the spot where the victim landed. If somebody had just focussed on the spot where this guy went in and kept pointing to it they may have been able to retrieve him. I don't think the family should collect a penny because the company served this guy, I think that is all on him and his wife, but I hope the Mount is better prepared if someone falls overboard in the future.