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An Australian, Captain Kit Filor, has been chosen as the Chairman of the Marine Accident Investigators' International Forum (MAIIF) at the ninth annual meeting in Belize.
Captain Filor is the Inspector of Marine Accidents and Deputy Director Surface Safety Investigations at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau.
Hosted by the International Merchant Marine Registry of Belize, in Belize City, between 7 and 11 August, the meeting was very successful with papers on marine safety issues from administrations as geographically diverse as Iceland, Korea, Singapore, Norway, Panama and Germany.
Two particular topics discussed were the development of voyage data recorders and fishing vessel safety, in terms of fishing vessel stability and their vulnerability to being run down by large ships.
The Marine Accident Investigators' International Forum arose out of an initiative of the Canadian Transport Safety Board, in 1992. The Canadian Transport Safety Board invited marine administrations around the world to send investigators to a meeting in Ottawa to discuss the formation of an organisation similar to the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.
From modest beginnings MAIIF now draws representation from administrations covering more than 80 per cent of the world's international fleet.
The forum promotes improvement in marine accident investigations and fosters cooperation and communication between marine accident investigators. Members include marine safety investigators who are employed or appointed by a country's administration, or agency of an administration.
MAIIF members combined to draft the Code for the Investigation of Marine Casualties and Incidents at the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which was adopted by the IMO Assembly in November 1997 as Resolution A.849 (20). The aim of the code is to promote cooperation and to introduce an internationally consistent approach to investigating and analysing the factors contributing to marine accidents.
Members have been instrumental in developing and teaching a new IMO model course for the investigation of marine casualties and incidents, taught through the International Maritime Academy, Trieste, Italy. Members are also developing a procedural handbook for investigators.
MAIIF meetings are held annually, the venues being rotated around the world. The next meeting will be held in Seoul in October 2001.
Media Contact: Brett Bayly: (02) 6274 7552
**The new Chairman served an apprenticeship and as a deck officer with the BP Tanker Company of London. He gained command experience in British Rail cross Channel ferries. He was employed as a Commonwealth marine surveyor and was given responsibility for conducting marine casualty investigations under Australian Commonwealth jurisdiction in 1986. In 1991 he was appointed Inspector of Marine Accidents and set up the independent Marine Incident Investigation Unit. He is presently Deputy Director, Surface safety Investigations and Inspector of Marine Accidents with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. He has lectured extensively, both within Australia and internationally on marine casualty investigations. He is a Fellow of the Nautical Institute and in 1996 he was awarded the Public Service Medal for service to marine safety.
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