Date of incident: January 2022
Notice of incident number: 2022182750004
Employer: Water taxi

Incident summary
A worker was operating a water taxi carrying four passengers in heavy fog. About 20 minutes into the journey, the water taxi struck an exposed (above-water) rock that was part of a reef made of rocks. The worker and all four of the passengers sustained injuries.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Water taxi travelling at unreduced speed collided with exposed rock. At the time of the incident, the water taxi was travelling at an unreduced speed of approximately 22 to 23 knots (40.7 to 42.5 km/h) in highly restricted visibility due to heavy fog.

Contributing factors

• Lack of procedures for travelling in reduced visibility. The employer did not have any procedures in place regarding operating speeds in foggy weather and did not discuss safe operating speeds in reduced visibility with the vessel operator.
• Radar not functioning. The radar on the water taxi was not functioning properly. Had the radar been functioning and been on, the operator would likely have seen the exposed rocks in time to avoid the collision.
• Reliance on GPS for navigation in heavy fog. The operator was using the GPS to navigate in conditions of highly limited visibility. While the GPS is useful in determining a position relative to charted waters, it does not provide information regarding distance from an object, like an exposed reef, with the same precision as radar.

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