El Faro Safety Legislation Heads To U.S. House Of Representatives For Vote

WLRN Public Media | By Maeve McGoran

Published June 27, 2018 at 3:39 PM EDT

The first free-standing federal legislation inspired by the sinking of the SS El Faro just took a big step towards becoming law, as the Maritime Safety Act of 2018 heads to the House of Representatives for a vote.

33 people died when the 40-year-old cargo ship sank during Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, the worst American sea disaster in decades.

Investigations into the sinking by the US Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board produced dozens of recommendations. A bill addressing a number of them has passed the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and now heads to the full House for a vote.

Many provisions of the Maritime Safety Act of 2018 concern ship inspections. Most inspections of American commercial vessels are performed by private firms hired by shipping companies. Coast Guard inspectors told the El Faro investigative board that they are only able to review a fraction of these private inspections and that problems had been missed in more than a third of the inspections they reviewed.

The House bill would establish a new office within the Coast Guard for more oversight of private inspection companies. It also calls for a study of the cost of tripling the number of traveling Coast Guard inspectors, and for more training.

The bill, which was introduced by Subcommittee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-CA), calls for a number of technical upgrades for all cargo ships, even older ones, such as flood alarms and distress signals that include location technology. (The old-fashioned signal on the El Faro did not have a G.P.S.) It would also require the Coast Guard to review a number of policies and regulations which investigators implicated in the sinking.

Rep. Hunter, calling the sinking of the El Faro one of the worst disasters in American maritime history, said he intended the bill "to insure the best safety measures are in place and appropriate safety equipment is available and in use on U.S. vessels. Industry is supportive of this legislation and in some cases is already working to implement some of the provisions."

The bill does not include some of the reforms most hoped for by families of the El Faro’s crew members, such as requiring modern enclosed lifeboats on all commercial ships.

“It appears to address many of the recommendations that the final Coast Guard report highlighted, with the exclusion of lifeboats,” said Glen Jackson, brother of able seaman Jack Jackson, who died on the El Faro. Modern lifeboats, he added “may have made the difference between life and death for the El Faro crew and would certainly make a difference for other crews”.

However, the Defense Department authorization recently passed by the House would mandate that commercial vessels chartered by the Pentagon in wartime have modern enclosed lifeboats.