TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale Strengthens Their Position
as an Industry Leader in Safe Practices

With the addition of an Assistant Director of Risk Management to their ranks in early 2011, TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale has been busy identifying areas of their business requiring special attention in an effort to increase safety and reduce injuries and accidents. The company engages in vessel towing and salvage operations, work boat charter operations, Launch work and oil spill containment. President Larry Acheson explains "We recognize that there are inherent risks in the type of work that we perform day in and day out. In the wake of our growth and the news of several unfortunate accidents within our industry over the past few years, I knew the time had come to dedicate some additional dollars and human resources to focus our attention on this important element of our business. Safety is a core message for our company in 2011 and beyond, we recently revised our mission statement to ensure that safety became a part of who we are every day."

The company and their captains have invested substantially in safety training. Each of their captains and deckhands has completed the STCW-95 training course (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) which involves firefighting training, personal survival training and first aid training. The Assistant Director of Risk Management, Christian Denhard is busy writing safety related procedures and recurring training outlines that will be added to the company's already extensive reference manual. They are taking the lessons that have been learned over the past 20+ years and continually compiling them in a format that is easy for their captains to understand. Christian will be attending the National Safety Council Congress and Expo in Philadelphia this fall where he will be looking for ideas to create a safer work environment. He was also invited to attend a two day meeting of the Waterborne Transport Group. The group holds one of their meetings each year in conjunction with the National Safety Council Congress and Expo. They are comprised of Bulk carrier, Tug and Barge, Military Vessel, Cruise Ship and container ship operators. Meeting outlines include relevant safety topics and best practices; they draw from one another's experiences to help educate the entire industry. TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale was honored to be invited to be a part of this group as a representative for small passenger vessel operators. Lessons learned here will be disseminated to the towing and salvage industry nationwide to help each operator provide safer passenger services such as the launch service offered by TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale.

TowBoatU.S. Ft. Lauderdale operates a fleet of 11 boats; they are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for all of your towing, launch, charter and oil spill containment needs. Contact them for reliable, safe and professional service today!