Paddling Risk Management
A Chain of Known Sequential Factors Cause Boating Accidents
Boating accidents are the final product of multiple factors contributing to the final event. Risk management looks to break the chain of events.
Accidents are seldom caused by a single or unique factor. Incidents occur due to the interaction of many contributing, interrelated and mostly preventable causes or factors. Human, equipment, and environmental causes play into the formulation and cause of any incident. Surveys show that 98% of paddlers own a Personal Flotation Device (PFD), but only 80% of those who die in fatal paddling related accidents were not wearing a PFD. A review of risk management factors reveals that most people who fall overboard do not expect for it to happen and that after it happens, there is not time to don a PFD. Not wearing a PFD is thus a contributing factor in most drowning accidents. Experienced paddlers are involved in more accidents than the uninitiated. For this to be possible, there must be other factors involved in causing accidents being ignored.
American Whitewater, working with the US Coast Guard has identified the various factors that build upon each other and at some point will precipitate at accident. Recognition of potential causal agents gives paddlers one more chance to avoid tragedy. One of these issues is not likely to cause an accident, but three or four of them combined could. Professional aviation accident investigators use similar schemes to research the cause of accidents through a process called fault tree analysis. These are some of the major human, equipment and environmental factors that lead up to potential accidents:
Human Factors:
- Consumption of alcohol
- Not wearing a PFD
- No familiarity with water
- Insufficient skills
- Poor physical condition
- Paddling alone or in a small group
Equipment Factors:
- Poor maintenance
- Little or no flotation
- No spare paddle
- No first-aid kit
- Improper clothing
Environmental Factors:
- High water
- Cold water
- Hydraulics caused by dams
- Strainers caused by downed trees
- Undercut rocks
- Remote operating areas
- Changing weather conditions
It is important to know the hazards involved with paddling to walk through a review of potential problems that can occur on a float trip. Risk management is often framed in terms of, What If? If I lose a paddle in a rapidly moving river, what will happen to me next? Each potential risk weighed by paddlers should be compared to a consequence or outcome. If the consequence is too high, the acceptable risk needs to be adjusted.
Education and pre-planning are the beginnings of good risk management. Use a checklist. Knowledge shapes causal factors and decision-making skills. Learn from more experienced boaters, take a river safety clinic or swiftwater rescue class, buy good gear and maintain it. These strategies will make you a safer and better paddler.
