The Importance of Personal Tracking Devices for Ship Crew Safety

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued a safety alert urging ship owners and operators to provide each crew member with a personal tracking device to improve their chances of rescue in an emergency at sea. The alert emphasizes that a sailor’s chances of survival decrease if search and rescue personnel cannot quickly and accurately determine their location. Personal tracking devices such as Personal Locator Beacons (PLB) or Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SEND) can pinpoint a person’s location, with current devices providing approximately 300 feet of location accuracy and near-instantaneous search and rescue notification when activated.

The NTSB advises ship owners and operators to select the best personal tracking device for their crew, provide each crew member with a device, and ensure they carry it with them. It also recommends registering each crew member’s personal tracking device with the appropriate organization. The safety alert highlights the importance of personal tracking devices, citing the case of the fishing vessel Ambition, where a crew member’s use of a SEND triggered an immediate response when the vessel began flooding in the Bering Sea in 2016. The NTSB mentions six victims and ongoing investigations into cases where personal tracking devices may have aided or could have aided rescuers in the search for survivors.

Source .