The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) came out swinging against the U.S. Coast Guard on the fifth anniversary of the tragic fire on the dive boat Conception that killed 34 people. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy says the USCG has delayed for too long and greater speed is needed to enact its safety recommendations for small passenger boats.
“For decades, the NTSB has urged the US Coast Guard to take action to mandate safety management systems (SMS), and for many years the US Coast Guard has failed to complete this action,” writes Homedy in a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan. NTSB explains its SMS recommendation for all passenger vessels was first issued after a 2010 incident with a Staten Island (New York) Ferry. The NTSB has repeated the same recommendations including in a 2018 investigation and again in 2020 in the conclusion to the Conception investigation.
Homedy notes on a personal level that the Conception investigation was her first marine investigation as an NTSB Board member. She says she has formed a personal bond with the families of the victims and that she is committed to ensuring the consideration of the recomamendations so no other families have to experience a similar tragedy.
The letter calls attention to US Congressional authorization for the USCG 14 years ago to implement the NTSB’s safety recommendations. Three years ago, NTSB says Congress mandated that the USCG carry out all the NTSB recommendations issued or reiterated as a result of the Conception investigation.
NTSB says Vice Admiral Peter Gautier, Deputy Commandant for Operations of the USCG, wrote NTSB on July 25, 2024, saying it was “diligently working,” on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking “with all due haste.”
“NTSB cannot accept this explanation given the length of inaction,” Homedy writes to Mayorkas and Fagan. “Greater speed is required.”
The NTSB is urging the full attention of the higher-ups to push the rulemaking forward. They urge the “immediate rectification of the US Coast Guard’s unacceptable response,” to the long-standing NTSB recommendations.
The NTSB has repeatedly over the years been critical of the USCG citing its failures and inaction on its safety recommendations. In a now yearly event, NTSB demands USCG action. It has also gone in front of Congress to call for action from the USCG on its recommendations.
Congress passed new safety regulations for small passenger boats while the families of the victims have sued the USCG over what they contend were failures to properly enforce safety regulations and inspections on the Conception before the September 2, 2019 fire aboard the 75-foot dive boat off the coast of Santa Cruz Island, California. The fire began at around 3:00 a.m. while the people were asleep and has been blamed on overloaded electrical circuits and a lack of a safety watch. A total of 33 passengers and one crewmember died.
