Propeller Guard Information Center

Archive for kill switch

Jan
12
2012

Propeller Accidents Similar to the McGarrigle Accident: Mercury Said There Were None – Our Findings Indicate Otherwise

by Gary

Mercury Marine Tiller Outboards

Mercury Marine Tiller Outboards

In McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine Mercury claims McGarrigle’s accident is the first one of its kind involving one of the over 750,000 tiller outboards (portable outboards) they built from 1986 to July 2007. We suspect there were several more. This post documents our quick search for others.

Our Mercury Marine Tells Court the McGarrigil Accident is the First One Involving Mercury Tiller Steered Outboards post defines exactly what Mercury Marine said. Read More→

0 Categories : Legal Shorts
Dec
27
2011

Mercury Marine Tells Court the McGarrigil Accident is the First One Involving Mercury Tiller Steered Outboards

by Gary

In McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine, a propeller / kill switch case, Mercury Marine claims John McGarrigle is the the first person NOT using a kill switch to be injured by a Mercury Marine tiller steered outboard.

We find that hard to believe, but before we can prove them wrong, we need to determine exactly what Mercury Marine’s legal team said.

On page 8 of the 20 December 2011 Partial Summary Judgement Opinion by the Court, (document 41 in the U.S. District Court New Jersey case docket), the court restates Mercury’s position:

Defendant argues that Dr. Fisher should not be permitted to testify that the design of the outboard engine was and is defective because it does not incorporate a lanyard A type stop switch. Defendant states that between 1986 and July 2007, it sold more than 750,000 8 to 25 horsepower outboard engines that use the lanyard B. It also states that, other than plaintiff’s accident, it is aware of no other accidents of a scenario similar to plaintiff’s, which resulted in propeller strike injuries to an ejected operator of a small hand-tilled outboard engine who did not use the lanyard B.

Read More→

0 Categories : Legal Shorts
Dec
21
2011

Kenneth W. Fisher Will be Allowed to Testify for Plaintiffs in McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine

by Gary

For basic information on John McGarrigle and Barbara McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine in U.S. District Court, D. New Jersey, see our McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine case page.

Very briefly, John McGarrigle fell from a small boat when it hit a wave, was not wearing a lanyard kill switch, the boat circled repeatedly, he tried to re-board it, and was struck by the propeller.

Both sides moved for summary judgement on some issues prior to the trial. Both sides won some issues and lost some issues. The full opinion written by Disrict Judge Noel L. Hillman is available on Leagle.com.

The defense tried to block Kenneth W. Fisher from being an expert witness for the plaintiff. They said he was not an expert in this field (kill switches on small boats) under Daubert. They also do not want to allow Dr. Fisher or others to use U.S. Coast Guard Navigational and Vessel Inspection Circular No. 4-89 (Circular 4-89). Defense claims Circular 4-89 only applies to commercial vessels. Defense also wants to prevent Dr. Fisher or others from using American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) F 1166-07 standard regarding human factors engineering (they grant it refers to ships and marine structures, but claim it does not specifically mention recreational boats).

In a 20 December 2011 opinion, the court said Dr. Fisher will be allowed to testify and he can use ASTM F 1166-07, but he will not be allowed to use Circular 4-89.

At the same time, Plaintiffs moved for summary judgement to prevent Defense from being able to claim the accident was caused by the victim taking a small boat out in choppy water and going too fast, they also wanted to block evidence of his behavior after being ejected (tired to re-board the circling boat), and wanted to block evidence that neither Mr Garrigle or his father read the outboard owners manual.

In the same 20 December 2011 opinion, the court said the defense would be allowed to present evidence of a proximate cause of the accident being the condition of the water and the speed of the boat. Defense will also be allowed to discuss the victim’s attempts to re-board the circling boat. The defense will not be able to introduce the failure of Mr. Garrigle or his father to read the owners manual as evidence of comparative fault or as a proximate cause because the defendant acknowledges some people operate their outboards without reading the manual, and thus it was foreseeable. Read More→

0 Categories : Legal Shorts
Dec
21
2011

McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine propeller case / lanyard kill switch case

by Gary

John McGarrigle and Barbara McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine. Civil Action No. 09-4625. United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

The Propeller Accident

Saturday, July 21, 2007, 37 year old John McGarrigle, of Pennsylvania, was operating a 12 foot aluminum fishing boat on Delaware Bay near Seabreeze, New Jersey about 5:20pm by himself. The small tiller steered boat, belonging to his father, was powered by a 2001 15 horsepower Mercury Marine outboard motor. The water was choppy, John was not wearing a lanyard kill switch. He was pitched overboard, the boat went into the “Circle of Death”, he tried to grab and re-board the spinning boat, and was struck by the propeller. John received severe injuries to his head and neck. A bystander on shore, swam out 100 to 150 feet and kept him afloat till more help could arrive. The prop strike victim was brought to shore in another boat and life flighted to an area hospital. The Coast Guard was able to stop the still circling boat by using a rope to foul its propeller. (Accident description was assembled from court records and several newspaper accounts.)

A New Jersey Patrol Officer interviewed the victim about a month later. The victim reported he had been going about 15 miles per hour, hit a wave, and was ejected. The same officer had responded to the accident. The patrol officer logged the accident as being caused by “excessive speed”, but testified he had no actual knowledge of the victim’s speed. Read More→

0 Categories : Legal Shorts
Dec
9
2011

History of Lanyard Kill Switches for Recreational Boats: Inventions, Regulations, Accidents, and Trials

by Gary

Kill Switch Lanyard

Lanyard photo courtesy of The U.S. Coast Guard

Although the U.S. Coast Guard is still considering regulations that would require boat builders to install kill switches (emergency engine cut-off switches) in all new recreational boats below a certain length and separately considering making their use mandatory, they have been on the market for over 30 years.

By the early 1950ʼs boat kill switches of multiple designs were used in National Outboard Racing Association boats.

George Horton, of Fort Worth Texas, applied for a patent on his “Quick Kill” recreational boat kill switch on 29 November 1972. He received U.S. Patent 3,786,892 on 22 January 1974, and entered productions with the “Quick Kill” kill switch in August 1974. His switch is widely viewed as the first commercially available kill switch designed specifically for use in recreational boats, vs. the earlier racing designs. Read More→

0 Categories : Regulations
Sep
1
2011

Propeller Safety History Repeats Itself, Repeats Itself ….

by Gary

Mercury Marine inflatable boat

Mercury Marine inflatable

While reviewing the U.S. Coast Guard’s Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on boat engine cut-off switches (lanyard kill switches), USCG-2009-0206, we noticed USCG included a 2008 review of their BARD (Boating Accident Report Database) in which USCG identified boat propeller accident injuries and fatalities from 2002 through 2006 that could have been prevented if the boat operator had been using an engine cut-off switch.

U.S. Coast Guard’s report on preventable accidents is available from their USCG-2009-0206 docket folder by using the red PDF icon about 2/3 the way down the right side of the Preventable Deaths and Injuries Report page. The version of the document currently posted was last revised in May 2010.

In their review of boat kill switch preventable accidents, USCG does a great job of explaining in detail how they identified accidents that might have been preventable from the BARD data. They also explain in detail the process used to review the selected BARD accident reports to make a determination if they could have been prevented by an engine cut-off switch or not. Read More→

0 Categories : Regulations
Aug
30
2011

USCG Kill Switch (Engine Cut-Off Switch) Proposed Rule USCG-2009-0206 Our Public Comments

by Gary

One of our earlier posts noted the United States Coast Guard (USCG) is seeking public comments on a proposed rule concerning Boat Kill Switches, also called Engine Cut-Off Switches. Details of their proposal and request for comment on our Kill Switch/Engine Cut-Off Switch Proposed Rulemaking Comments Sought by USCG post.

The two most basic questions asked are should all new recreational power boats less than 26 feet be built with an engine cut-off switch AND if a cut-off switch is present, should the boat operator be required to use it?

We submitted a lengthy public comment yesterday (29 August 2011) that included Read More→

0 Categories : Regulations
Aug
29
2011

RFID Boat Kill Switches (Engine Cut-Off Switches) – Five PGIC Invention Disclosures Posted August 29, 2011

by Gary

Today, August 29, 2011, we, the Propeller Guard Information Center, posted five RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) invention disclosures. While they have other implications as well, they were primarily inspired by problems surrounding boat engine kill switches (emergency engine cut-off switches).

We (Polson Enterprises) are retaining all rights to these inventions (including their use in non-boating applications).

Existing lanyard boat engine kill switches (emergency engine cut-off switches) are used to kill the engine if the operator falls overboard. Boats often begin spinning wildly in the “Circle of Death” after the operator has been ejected. A boat operator that falls overboard while the boat is underway may be struck repeatedly by the boat and/or propeller as the boat circles.

Lanyard boat kill switches are rarely used by boat operators due to the hassles of hooking them up. Sensor based kill switch systems such as Autotether and MariTech’s Virtual Lifeline and CAST have began to address some of the hassles involved with using lanyards. Our RFID tag based invention disclosures illustrate a different sensor based approach with some additional advantages.

Our five invention disclosures are: Read More→

2 Categories : Propeller Safety Inventions
Aug
29
2011

RFID Life Jacket / PFD Used to Detect Human Presence in Boat Kill Switch Applications invention

by Gary

Our RFID Life Jacket / RF Reflector Life Jacket Used to Detect Human Presence in Boat Kill Switch Applications invention disclosure below was posted on 29 August 2011. It is one of five related Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) invention disclosures we posted today. We will make no changes to the invention disclosure that begins with text below the horizontal line following this paragraph except to correct misspellings, punctuation, and to update html/computer codes and links. Any updates to the invention will be posted below the horizontal line marking the end of the invention disclosure. Read More→

Categories : Propeller Safety Inventions
Jul
30
2011

Kill Switch / Engine Cut-Off Switch Proposed Rulemaking Comments Sought by USCG

by Gary

Kill Switch Lanyard

Lanyard photo courtesy of The U.S. Coast Guard

The United States Coast Guard (USCG) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Regulations) in the Federal Register on June 8, 2011. The proposal is titled, Installation and Use of Engine Cut-Off Switches on Recreational Vessels.

As part of the proposal, the Coast Guard also published a Preventable Fatalities and Injuries Report listing boating accidents from 2002 through 2006 in which the use of an Engine Cut-Off Switch / Kill Switch would have likely prevented the fatalities or injuries resulting from an operator falling overboard or otherwise being ejected.

The USCG proposal includes a Background Section with a history of the Coast Guard’s efforts to reduce vessel and propeller strikes since about 1990.

While the Coast Guard engine cut-off proposal seeks input on almost countless points, the two primary kill-switch issues being debated are: Read More→

0 Categories : Regulations

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