The accident is the endpoint: identifying risk before a casualty

A casualty is often the visible end of risks that have been developing across people, equipment, procedures and external services. Claims experience tells us how previous losses ended. Preventing the next one requires us to understand how they began, as Elizabeth Gomez, The Swedish Club, explains

In March 2026 The Swedish Club published a safety scenario involving a bulk carrier that grounded during a night-time river transit. The pilot's tablet-based electronic chart appeared to show the vessel within the channel, while the vessel's electronic chart display and information system showed it significantly to port of the centreline. Automatic information system (AIS) data later placed the ship around 80 m from the channel axis and 30 m beyond the channel limit. Preliminary survey findings identified the pilot's out-of-date chart as the most likely immediate cause.