U.S. Coast Guard completes Hampton Roads safety assessment

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES

05.18.2017

Story by Walter Ham  

U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters   

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Coast Guard completed a safety assessment of the waterways around Hampton Roads, Virginia.

The Ports and Waterways Safety Assessment (PAWSA) brought together military, government and industry officials to identify risks in the waterways around the world’s largest naval complex.

The Hampton Roads PAWSA workshop report is published on-line at: https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/pawsa/WorkshopReports/Hampton_Roads_PAWSA_workshop_report_July_2016.pdf

The PAWSA workshop addressed naval and commercial vessel traffic in the Thimble Shoal Channel, the main shipping channel leading from the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay to the ports of Norfolk and Portsmouth along the Elizabeth River.

The Coast Guard conducts PAWSA workshops to increase coordination between the organizations that maintain waterways and the mariners who travel on them. The PAWSA workshops are also used to foster the development of Harbor Safety Committees and provide input for projects to improve navigation safety.

Since 1997, the U.S. Coast Guard has conducted 53 PAWSA workshops for waterways across the nation.

According to Burt Lahn from the Coast Guard Navigation Standards and Regulations Division, the workshops identify major waterway safety hazards, estimate risk levels, evaluate potential mitigation measures and recommend risk reduction strategies.

“The goal of PAWSA is to find solutions that are cost effective and meet the needs of waterway users and stakeholders,” said Lahn.

• Date Taken: 05.18.2017
• Date Posted: 05.18.2017 14:12
• Story ID: 234328
• Location: WASHINGTON, DC, US