AWO, Coast Guard recommend ways to reduce barge/bridge accidents

AWO, Coast Guard recommend ways to reduce barge/bridge accidents    The American Waterway Operators and U.S. Coast Guard have come up with a series of recommendations to help eliminate accidents involving barges and bridges.
   The findings, which are part of a newly released study by the Coast Guard-AWO Safety Partnership, include:
   * Implementation of measures to improve decision making on part of the navigator, such as identification of vulnerable bridges and devising crew endurance management systems.
   * Speed up the removal and alteration of bridges under the Truman-Hobbs Act.
   * Consider additional protection for bridge piers.
   * Use the report as the basis of future studies by the Coast Guard Research and Development Center.
   * Initiate a special investigative effort for certain barge/bridge accidents in which human error was a factor.
   “Our industry is serious about its commitment to safe operations and navigating safely through bridges,” said Tom Allegretti, AWO president. “This report helps us understand these accidents and their causes in their broadest context.”
   The study began last summer after the fatal barge/bridge accidents at South Padre Island, Texas, in September 2001, and Webbers Falls, Okla., in May 2002. However, because both accidents are still under investigation, the work group did not attempt to draw conclusions about their causes.
   The study’s key findings include:
   * Barge/bridge accidents happen at a rate of six per 10,000 towing vessel trips.
   * About 95 percent of accidents involving barges result in minor property damage.
   * About 90 percent of accidents are the result of human error.
   * Nearly 34 percent of accidents that occurred between 1992 and 2001 took place with bridges the Coast Guard already deemed obstructions to navigation or in need of alterations.