Evidence and records gathering by Sailors’

Vessels are mobile objects operated by the crew, shore management, and other parties. As a team, they strive to accomplish a safe operation aboard regardless of the vessel’s size. Complying with the acknowledged Statutory obligation at the same time Accidents still happen, no matter how careful the crew is or how carefully the procedures are followed by the crew. When it comes to this, the sailors’ involvement in gathering evidence and records is crucial.

There’s more to it than just collecting evidence, either. To the Club, surveyors, correspondents, and attorneys must be presented with evidence that has been kept. The crew of a ship should be able to gather evidence independently. Additionally, evidence obtained immediately after an occurrence is more important than evidence collected years later, especially in situations involving personnel injuries. An excellent supply of training materials can come from the evidence that’s been gathered and maintained, which may eventually become processes and methods for preventing such occurrences in the future.

Given that we’re talking about obtaining proof aboard, I feel compelled to enumerate the sorts of evidence acquired onboard the ship.

Reports, Statements and Letters as evidence

For the sake of avoiding any omissions, all reports, declarations, letters, and protest notes must be written as The documents that must be prepared include the ones listed below.

Witness statements

At the scene, witness testimonies were given to third-party surveyors and attorneys, as well as to the police. Prior to delivering these statements to opposing counsel, crew members are required to get legal guidance from P & I Club correspondents’ attorneys.

Reports or Statement of facts (SOF)

Whenever an incident occurs, the ship’s crew prepares a report that outlines the chain of events Assumptions and hearsay should be avoided.

Letter of protest (LOP)

LOPs are given based on unlawful conduct outside the control of the ship’s crew, and the opposing party must acknowledge the LOP.

Note of protest

According to the circumstances, an official notice of objection will be issued.

Records as evidence

As a result of events involving the failure of systems and equipment, the ship’s below is a list of evidence for this.

Maintenance Records

A Planned Maintenance System is used on merchant ships governed by the Safety Management Certificate. Therefore, if an incident occurs, the ship’s crew must perform any scheduled or unexpected repair on relevant equipment and machinery.

Testing Records

As part of the ship’s planned maintenance system, equipment and machinery are tested on a regular basis. Each piece of equipment and machinery has its own set of test records to guarantee that it

Operation Records

Logs are used to keep track of the ship’s daily operations. Logs for different equipment and gear such as course recorders, Global positioning fixing systems (GPS) and navigation systems, Navtex, telegraphs etc. are kept as checklists, running hours, and printouts.

Repair and Servicing

Upon completion of repairs or commissioning equipment the shore technician or the manufacturer’s personnel issue, a report on the respective service or repair carried out.

List of critical spares onboard

On every ship, there is a list of critical spare parts. As far as possible, this list must be kept up to date. If any spares are utilized, requests will be made to replace them.

A company’s safety mAll maintenance, testing, and operating records must be in conformity with the manufacturer’s standards, national and international legislation, local and Flag state requirements, and the company’s safety management manuals, among other things, in order to be considered.

Logbooks

It’s vital to remember that the entries we make in the deck log book, engine logbook, and official logbook are admissible in a court of law if Logbooks must be filled out legibly, and they must be preserved as quickly as possible after an occurrence.

In addition to this, various records are kept on board for navigation, radio, medical, standing orders, and regulatory requirements. From the ECDIS logbook, GPS or Anchor logs may be exported directly. Out of all of these records the GMDSS log, Medical log, Night Orders, Garbage Record Books, Oil Record books Part 1 & 2 need to be preserved as appropriate.

Visual Evidence

Pictures are worth a thousand words in the age of smart phones, tablet PCs, and digital cameras and this saying has never been more accurate. Now that digital gadgets have become widely available, these records, in the form of pictures and movies, may be accessed by anybody and used as a major visual evidence.

In order to gather and preserve evidence, digital recording equipment, such as CCTV cameras, is installed onboard. Safe working procedures must be adhered to when utilizing this equipment.

Here is a few things to keep in mind when gathering visual evidence.

Pictures

• Need to be relevant to the incident.
• Taken at the earliest available safe opportunity.
• The date and time should be displayed.
• Items and damages to be tagged and identified correctly.

Videos

Be documented if possible during the occurrence. Visuals of the weather deck of a ship in extreme weather are a fantastic illustration.

As a result of significant weather damage, such evidence has been particularly valuable in the past for establishing a chronology of events. It’s also possible to create a video at the earliest chance.

• The date and time should be displayed.
• Identification and establishing events could be carried out audibly.
• No videos should be made on the sly or using hidden devices unless a specific situation demands thus and is reasonable and legally explainable.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter what kind of situation you’re dealing with, the following evidence in an inquiry may be used because of its nature:

1. Statutory certificates.
2. Certificates of Class/certifying authority and last survey reports/Executive Summary Report.
3. Ship drawings/plans as relevant to the incident.
4. Verification of manning and rest hours in the form of the Safe Manning Certificate, records of hours of rest/work and the prevailing crew list.
5. Statement of facts.
6. Witness statements.
7. Logbook entries.
8. Accident investigation report.
9. Photographs/CCTV.
10. Company procedures/orders covering the situation.

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