There is a need to develop a system which creates a database of records for all people in Western Australia who have been fatally injured or admitted to hospital as a result of a marine-related injury.

Background

A report in 2003 by the WA Auditor-General identified that while significant steps had been taken to enhance marine safety in over the past decade, there remained a need for a more comprehensive and effective program of data collection and analysis to support the development of marine safety countermeasures and the evaluation of safety programs.

Based on these recommendations, a study was undertaken in 2004 to describe the level of marine-related fatalities, injuries and incidents in Western Australia.

The study used data from hospitalisation and morbidity records, while marine incidents were obtained using the Marine Incident Database maintained by Marine Safety at DPI and the WA Marine Sea Search and Rescue database maintained by the WA Water Police.

While this information provided information on the overall numbers involved in marine injuries and incidents, it also highlighted the importance of gathering together a comprehensive group of variables to help identify factors that are likely to be correlated with injuries and incidents. One recommendation from the 2004 study was to link these databases together providing an opportunity to investigate the data in more detail and across a range of variables. For example the hospitalisation and morbidity data contain very little information related to the vessel involved. Through the linking of these data with incident and licensing information a more detailed analysis of the data will be possible and would reduce the duplication of cases.

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Aims

The aim of the project is to develop a linked, population level database of records for all persons in Western Australia who have been fatally injured or admitted to hospital as a result of a marine-related injury, or have been involved in a marine-related incident.

The establishment of the database will assist in investigating attributing factors, including other illnesses and conditions, to the incidence and burden of marine related injury in Western Australia. This will assist in identifying groups who have a higher risk of marine injury and/or incident as well as providing information related to countermeasures that may reduce the incidence and burden of these injuries and incidents among boaters within Western Australia.

It is also intended that the marine injury and incidence database will support further investigation of the patterns of related injury in Western Australia at a population level.

There may be the opportunity to use the database to help estimate the cost of these injuries and incidents. These may involve hospitalisation, rehabilitation and long term care, as well as the direct and indirect costs to the community, such as sea search and rescue services.

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