An Emerging Passenger Safety Risk Ferry Operators Need to Know About
- Hannah M
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Four ferry operators. Four separate incidents. The same dangerous behaviour.
A passenger moves towards the edge of a ferry while someone else begins filming. Within seconds, the passenger jumps from the moving vessel into the water—all for a video to upload to social media.
Over the past few months, four SeaLogs customers have experienced this.
At first, these incidents could be dismissed as isolated cases of poor judgement. However, when the same behaviour occurs across several operators...filmed an uploaded online with viral responses across social media channels, it becomes an emerging passenger safety risk worth addressing.
For the passenger, it may feel like a quick stunt.
For the crew, it is a person-overboard emergency.
What happens after someone jumps?
The danger begins the moment the passenger leaves the vessel.
A moving ferry continues travelling while the person is left behind, often within the vessel’s wake. They may hit the water awkwardly, become disoriented or suffer cold-water shock.
Depending on where they jump, there may also be a risk of contact with the vessel, propellers or underwater hazards.
Even a strong swimmer can quickly become difficult to see once separated from the vessel.
The crew must respond immediately. They need to raise the alarm, maintain visual contact with the person, deploy appropriate equipment and begin the vessel’s person-overboard procedure.
At the same time, the master must continue navigating the vessel, assessing surrounding traffic and managing the safety of everyone else onboard.
A stunt lasting only seconds can create a complex and potentially life-threatening emergency.
Can crews recognise the risk before someone jumps?
Often, the first warning sign is not the passenger—it is the filming.
Passengers take photos and videos onboard every day, so a phone alone is not a cause for concern. The risk increases when filming is combined with other behaviours.
Crew may notice a group gathering near the stern or an open deck. Someone may point a camera towards the water or wake while another passenger moves closer to the railing.
There may be laughing, encouragement, a dare or a countdown. The passenger may remove their shoes, hand over their belongings or repeatedly check whether the crew is watching.
They may begin sitting, climbing or leaning dangerously over a barrier.
None of these behaviours proves that someone intends to jump. However, when several appear together, crew should intervene.
Waiting for certainty may mean waiting until the person is already in the water.
Early intervention can prevent the emergency
Crew should be supported to act before the behaviour escalates.
A clear instruction may be all that is needed:
“For your safety, you need to move away from the railing immediately. Jumping or climbing over the barrier is strictly prohibited.”
The master or senior crew member should be informed, and the passenger should continue to be monitored. If the instruction is ignored, the situation should be escalated in accordance with the vessel’s procedures.
This is not about confronting passengers unnecessarily. It is about recognising a developing risk and interrupting it before someone makes a decision that cannot be reversed.
Make the rule clear before the vessel departs
Many passengers may not appreciate what deliberately entering the water means for the vessel and its crew.
Operators should consider including a direct warning in their passenger safety briefing:
“Passengers must not climb, sit on or jump from any railing or barrier. Deliberately entering the water while the vessel is operating will trigger an emergency response and may be reported to the appropriate authorities.”
This should be supported by clear signage, particularly around open decks, stern areas and other locations where passengers can approach the vessel’s edge.
Operators should also review whether these areas can be adequately supervised throughout the voyage. Crew positioning, passenger numbers, CCTV coverage and access to restricted areas should all form part of that review.
If a passenger enters the water
Regardless of why they entered the water, the event must be treated as a person-overboard emergency.
Crew should immediately follow the vessel’s approved procedures. This may include:
Raising the alarm and notifying the master
Maintaining continuous visual contact with the person
Deploying flotation or recovery equipment
Marking the person’s position
Managing the vessel under the master’s direction
Conducting a passenger head count
Notifying emergency services or maritime authorities
Recovering the person using the vessel’s approved method
Crew should not enter the water unless this is part of an approved procedure they have been trained to carry out.
Regular drills are critical. When a person is in the water, every second matters. Crew need to understand their responsibilities before the emergency occurs—not work them out during it.
Learn from incidents and near misses
An incident should not be considered closed simply because the passenger was recovered safely.
Operators should record what happened, the warning signs observed, the actions taken by the crew, available witness or CCTV evidence, notifications made and any corrective actions identified.
Near misses are equally valuable.
If a crew member intervenes and prevents someone from jumping, the event can reveal important information about the operation. It may expose a gap in the passenger briefing, an area that is difficult to supervise or uncertainty about when crew should escalate unsafe behaviour.
Recording these events allows operators to identify patterns and improve their controls before someone is seriously injured.
How SeaLogs can help
SeaLogs can be used to:
Record incidents and near misses
Add the emerging risk to the vessel’s risk register
Assign and track corrective actions
Document crew training and safety meetings
Record person-overboard drills
Maintain an auditable record of safety improvements
A risk worth discussing with your crew
We are not suggesting that every passenger holding a phone is planning something dangerous.
However, four SeaLogs customers experiencing the same behaviour within a matter of months tells us this risk deserves attention.
Share it with your crews. Review your passenger briefings. Confirm that everyone knows when to intervene and what to do if someone enters the water.
A passenger may see an opportunity to create a video.
An experienced crew must see the emergency it could become.
