Trans RINA, Vol 154, Part C1, Intl J Marine Design, Jan - Jun 2012


from ‘more technical’ factors and then moving to their impact on aesthetics and looking at some design samples.


4. SAFETY


Safety is a complex category of protection of craft and people against harmful events. Being on a boat, people are exposed to weather elements, depend on possible technical failures and effect of human factors. We can subdivide safety issues related to boat design and operation into


normative - regulated by rules and


standards; not regulated but based on operation experience and design practices; associated with other activities on boat not directly related to use of boats.


In today’s world boat safety is assessed using standards and regulations covering major aspects of design from general safety, strength and stability to systems and equipment. All


standards applicable for boats can be categorized in following groups:


 International standards (IMO, ISO)  National standards (GOST-R, CFR, etc.)  Rules of classification societies (LR, GL, DNV, BV, RMRS, NK, RINA, ABS, CCS etc.)


 Rules of associations and organizations (ABYC, ORC, etc.)


 Local regulations, etc. For small pleasure craft


primary regulations are


Recreational Craft Directive and ISO Small Craft group of standards that are applied for boats in the range of hull lengths LH=2.5…24m and compulsory for all pleasure craft sold in European Union. According to these regulations


boats are assigned with one of four


categories: A – ocean; B- offshore; C- inshore and D – sheltered. Not mandatory in other parts of the world these rules are widely used in many countries as design guidelines or for alternative certification.


Summary of safety factors to some extent related to boat aesthetics, general presented in Table 1.


design and layout planning are


It is common to under-evaluate the impact of styling on the boat certification process. For example, a wide open transom on open powerboat might look attractive but would involve special measures to comply with down flooding height and emergency flotation requirements. In our practice the profile of boat is drawn over a scheme representing


dimensional and imposed by regulations (see fig.3).


Of course (and fortunately) not all elements of a design can be regulated by standards, and a design developed in full compliance with standards can experience some problems in operation. So practical considerations based on experience and predictions of possible operational scenarios are of great importance.


volume limitations


Figure 3 – Safety requirements for 7.2m powerboat a) freeboard and cockpit: F – freeboard; F=LH/(10…24) depending on category; S – height of self-draining


cockpit


coaming height; C=50…300 mm depending category and type of craft; b) visibility requirements


Greater part of recreational boating accidents (over 80%) happen due to human factors [2] with major reasons being collision with other boats and floating objects (68% of total). According to accident reports, two major reasons of accidents are improper lookout.


operator inattention and


S=50…200mm; C – door on


So, at first glance accidents are not much effected by design factors; but there is no doubt that designers can further improve safety even beyond the official scope of regulations. It is difficult to quantify the effect of different design factors on lookout and attention of a driver, but there are certain ways to improve it:


 Proper visibility from steering stations with special attention to blind sectors and avoiding reflections; functional zones of the driver and


 Planning of


passengers, avoiding crowding of people in front of driver, etc.;


 Adequate interior and exterior lighting on the boat with respect to steering station;


 Appropriate ergonomics of the driver’s seat, comfortable steering and engine controls;


 Avoiding excessive wetness of the craft;  Advanced boat control systems such as joystick control, thrusters, pod drives, etc.


 Proper navigation equipment and its arrangement on craft;


 Proper navigation lights, searchlights, etc.


C-46


©2012: The Royal Institution of Naval Architects


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