Marina Risk Reduction

Fire Protection Research Foundation report: “Marina Risk Reduction”
Author: Woojung Park and Brian Meacham
Date of issue: August 2017

Report

Marina Risk Reduction

Electric Shock Drowning (ESD) can directly electrocute a swimmer in the water or cause a level of paralysis that ultimately results in drowning. Reports in the mainstream media indicate this is a concern in the vicinity of public and private marinas, boatyards and floating buildings. This has been addressed in the FPRF Proceedings of the “Marina Shock Hazard Research Planning Workshop” held in August 2015, among other activities and earlier works. This problem has not been resolved and needs to be further addressed.

Download the report.

This project is intended to address ESD in public and private marinas and related facilities from all common and plausible sources. The Marina Shock Hazard Research Planning Workshop held in August 2015 suggested possible sources of ESD hazards from both shore based and non-shore based sources, and this latest effort hopes to provide focused guidance on the optimum solution(s) using a risk based approach. The intent is to consider and assess ALL realistic solutions whether they are technical, awareness (including human behavior) or regulatory focused. Further, relief is sought for this hazard using a comprehensive risk focus rather than a focus on only technical or other narrow singular solutions. ESD is a serious concern to the safety community, and there is a strong desire to identify and prioritize steps that will provide meaningful impact towards its mitigation. The deliverables from this project will provide a roadmap to promote substantive solutions. 

• Download the executive summary. (PDF)

The goal of this project is to provide a comprehensive risk assessment and associated action plan to prevent, mitigate and/or eliminate the harmful effects of ESD in the vicinity of marinas, boatyards and floating buildings. Utilizing the concepts described in “Guidance Document for Incorporating Risk Concepts into NFPA Codes and Standards” (PDF), this project provides the following:

• Summary of previous applicable literature, projects and activities in support of the goal of this project;
• Definition of risk assessment elements for this application, including risk metrics and acceptability criteria;
• Identification, summary and categorization of the hazards and hazardous scenarios of impact;
• Evaluation of the risks through estimation of frequency and consequence;
• Recommended action plan to manage the risk, including measures to eliminate, prevent, and/or mitigate the risks;
• Recommended methodology for evaluating the potential effectiveness of the action plan that addresses the effectiveness of the plan elements versus the cost to implement them.