5.1 This guide provides best practices for reporting of maritime injuries and illnesses and those included in 46 CFR 4.03-1.

5.2 Each maritime organization should record and report each marine casualty or accident in a manner that meets or exceeds regulations set forth by 46 CFR 4.03-1 and the Department of Homeland Security, USCG Report of Marine Casualty (CG-2692).

5.2.1 46 CFR 4.03-1 Regulatory Text Definition for Marine Casualty or Accident: 

5.2.1.1 Any casualty or accident involving any vessel other than a public vessel that:

(1) Occurs upon the navigable waters of the United States, its territories, or possessions;

(2) Involves any U.S. vessel wherever such casualty or accident occurs; or

(3) With respect to a foreign tank vessel operating in waters subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, including the EEZ, involves significant harm to the environment or material damage affecting the seaworthiness or efficiency of the vessel; and

(4) The term "marine casualty or accident" applies to events caused by or involving a vessel and includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(a) Any fall overboard, injury, or loss of life of any person and

(b) Any occurrence involving a vessel that results in grounding, stranding, foundering, flooding, collision, allision, explosion, fire, reduction or loss of a vessel's electrical power, propulsion, or steering capabilities, failures, or occurrences, regardless of cause, that impair any aspect of a vessel's operation, components, or cargo, any other circumstance that might affect or impair a vessel's seaworthiness, efficiency, or fitness for service or route, or any incident involving significant harm to the environment.

5.2.2 Marine Casualty or Accident-Some incidents defined as a "marine casualty or accident" per 46 CFR 4.03-1 will not meet the criteria in 46 CFR 4.05-1(a) requiring initial reporting and CG-2692 submissions to the USCG. However, owners, agents, masters, operators, or persons in charge need to consider whether notification to the USCG is still required under other regulations, including 33 CFR 160.216, for the reporting of a hazardous condition.

5.2.3 46 CFR 4.05-1: Notice of Marine Casualty-Immediately after addressing the resultant safety concerns, the owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge shall notify the nearest Sector Office or any USCG office whenever a vessel is involved in a marine casualty consisting of:

5.2.3.1 An unintended grounding or an unintended strike of (allision with) a bridge;

5.2.3.2 An intended grounding or an intended strike of a bridge that creates a hazard to navigation, the environment, or the safety of a vessel or that meets any criterion of 46 CFR 4.05-1 (a) (3)-(8);

5.2.3.3 A loss of main propulsion, primary steering, or any associated component or control system that reduces the maneuverability of the vessel;

5.2.3.4 An occurrence materially and adversely affecting the vessel's seaworthiness or fitness for service or route including, but not limited to, fire, flooding, or failure of or damage to fixed fire-extinguishing systems, life-saving equipment, auxiliary power-generating equipment, or bilge pumping systems;

5.2.3.5 A loss of life;

5.2.3.6 An injury that requires professional medical treatment (treatment beyond first aid) and, if the person is engaged or employed on board a vessel in commercial service, that renders the individual unfit to perform his or her routine duties;

5.2.3.7 An occurrence causing property damage in excess of $25 000, this damage including the cost of labor and material to restore the property to its condition before the occurrence, but not including the cost of salvage, cleaning, gas freeing, dry-docking, or demurrage; and

5.2.3.8 An occurrence involving significant harm to the environment as defined in 46 CFR 4.03-65.

5.2.4 As a best practice supplement to 46 CFR 4.05-1, each maritime organization should record and report each injury or illness that meets one or more of the following criteria:

5.2.4.1 Medical treatment beyond first aid,

5.2.4.2 Restricted work or transfer to another job,

5.2.4.3 Days away from work,

5.2.4.4 Loss of consciousness,

5.2.4.5 Death, and

5.2.4.6 A significant injury or illness diagnosed by a physician or other licensed health care professional.

5.2.5 Each maritime organization should record and report all injuries requiring only first aid and incidents resulting in near misses (see this guide).

5.2.6 The vessel owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge shall complete the CG-2692 form as required by the USCG and are encouraged to record the supplemental fields included in this guide. This form should be completed as completely and accurately as possible with clear type or print. Fill in all blanks that apply to the kind of incident that occurred. If a question is not applicable, the abbreviation "NA" should be entered in that space. If an answer is unknown and cannot be obtained, the abbreviation "UNK" should be entered in that space. If "NONE" is the correct response, then enter it in that space.

5.2.7 Once the form is completed and the incident meets the USCG reporting threshold outlined in 46 CFR 4.05, deliver, e-mail, or fax this form within five days of the casualty to the USCG Sector, Marine Safety Unit, or Activity nearest the location of the casualty or, if at sea, nearest arrival point.

5.2.8 When a casualty meets the requirements of a serious marine incident as defined in 46 CFR 4.03, the owner, agent, master, operator, or person in charge is required to submit a CG-2692B in accordance with 46 CFR 4.06-60.

5.2.9 Example best practice injury/illness recording/reporting fields that supplement the required CG-2692 are provided in Appendix X2. These fields also satisfy the best practices set forth in this guide and are intended to enhance the value of injury and illness recording/reporting through higher quality and consistency of the data. The intention is that higher quality and consistent data may lead to improved corrective action development, lessons learned discrimination, and industry benchmarking. Appendix X2 is not intended to replace the regulatory requirements of CG-2692, but it does contain some over lapping fields.