Guidelines for Collecting Maritime Evidence, Vol. 1 (2nd Edition, 2025)

Guidelines for Collecting Maritime Evidence, Vol. 1 (2nd Edition, 2025)

This practical guide is intended for everyone at sea and on shore – Master, crew and managers – who might need to handle material after a maritime incident that could be used as evidence for later legal proceedings, insurance claims etc. It is an essential tool that will remove much of the uncertainty from the task and will reduce the risk of seafarer criminalisation.

The book is a completely revised edition of NI’s popular The Mariner’s Role in Collecting Evidence. The scope has been broadened and the content updated to reflect the growing importance of electronic evidence. A state safety inspector, Master, insurer, surveyor, lawyer and an arbitrator each describe evidence collection from their own point of view, explaining what material needs to be gathered and how it will be used.

DESCRIPTION

What happens after a maritime incident? Masters, crew and management ashore must collect evidence that satisfies the needs of shipowners, ship managers, insurers, flag states, port states and other statutory and regulatory bodies. All these bodies have different requirements and priorities.

Used in conjunction with Guidelines for Collecting Maritime Evidence Volume 2, this book explains all that mariners need to know about fulfilling these evidence requirements while protecting a multitude of interests and without compromising safety and the environment. This series provides Masters, officers and crew the knowledge to collect, secure and preserve evidence, consistent with ISM Code and other regulatory requirements. In this book, a state safety investigator, Master, insurers, surveyor, lawyer and arbitrator each describe evidence collection from their own expert perspective.

The use and challenges of artificial intelligence and electronically obtained evidence are discussed as well as the need to protect evidence from disclosure in case of future dispute or litigation.

Included in this new edition:

• Extensive incident checklists
• The no-blame approach to state safety investigations
• The surveyor’s perspective and the P&I approach
• Evidence for insurance claims

Contents

Acknowledgements

List of abbreviations

Chapter 1: Preserving evidence on behalf of state safety

inspectors. The UK perspective

Chapter 2: The Master’s responsibilities for collecting evidence

Chapter 3: The P&I approach

Chapter 4: The surveyor’s perspective

Chapter 5: The lawyer’s point of view

Chapter 6: A marine claims broker’s perspective

Chapter 7: Evidence for insurance claims

Chapter 8: A practical view from P&I

Chapter 9: Evidence and arbitration

Appendix 1: The no-blame approach to state safety investigations

Appendix 2: Checklists

Index

Contributors