A review of the major propeller safety events in 2012 including safety meetings, accidents, legal cases, deaths of those involved in the movement, statistics, patents, articles published, public service announcements, anniversaries, and other related events.

• 31 January 2012 We put out a call for student propeller safety project sponsors. We have previously and continue to post several student research projects in our Research Projects category.
• 2 February 2012 NSW Transport Roads and Maritime (Australia) released an investigative report on the 14 February 2010 RIB propeller accident involving Defense Cadet Oliver Minchin (son of a very prominent politician). The investigation found the vessel should have had a propeller guard for its intended use. This accident was back in the news in December 2012.
• 2 February 2012 Michael Hinton v. OMC propeller case in which Mr. Hinton was hanging onto the swim ladder while reaching for a hat, the ladder broke, he fell in, and was stuck by the propeller was decided in favor of OMC.
• 3 February 2012 we launched the idea of a propeller safety checkoff program similar to “Beef, Its What’s for Dinner”.
• 3 February 2012 we launched a discussion about the possible application of Cap and Trade principles to reducing propeller fatalities and injuries.
• 4 February 2012 we attended the Tulsa Boat Show. We purposefully shot several photos of propeller safety warnings we later weaved into a March 2012 post that continues to get moderate traffic from visitors interested in boat warnings.
• 13 February 2012 a propeller fatality involving a snorkeler off Egypt was caught on video by an underwater camera operated by a fellow diver.
• 16 February 2012 USCG Accident Mitigation Workshop at the Miami Florida Boat Show. Discussed status of cut-off switch and propeller strike rulemakings, and final phases of the Propeller Guard Test protocol.
• 25 February 2012 we posted a list of outboard motor propeller accidents in which the outboard flipped back up into the boat. We were surprised this area had not previously been investigated.
• March 2012 ABYC and CED Investigative Technologies put the Propeller Guard Test Protocol out for public comment with comments due by April 11, 2012.
• 15 March 2012 we released a list of Boat or Boat Motor Struck Submerged Dredge Pipe Accidents. Again, we were surprised this area had not been previously investigated.
• 28 March 2012 Yamaha UK announced a new Pro division serving commercial customers. Among their products is a new propeller guard for small flood rescue outboards. In addition to several claims about how great their propeller guard is, Yamaha said propeller guards are essential for safety when people are in the water in rescue situations.
• 3-10 April 2012 we posted a three part post on the history of Log Strike Testing.
• 13-15 April 2012 NBSAC 89th meeting at Arlington Virginia. Discussed the cut-off switch and propeller strike rulemakings, and the Propeller Strike Injury Avoidance Project (including the guard test protocol).
• 28 April 2012 a female passenger on Archusa Lake (Mississippi) was injured when an outboard motor flipped in after hitting a stump. Her arm was nearly severed and she was life flighted to UMC in Jackson.
• 19 May 2012 some teenagers boating on Kaw Lake near Ponca City found one of their group in trouble in the water. Another teen jumped in to help him and was struck by the boat propeller. The body of the first teen was found about a week later. We provided on site coverage of this accident.
• May 2012 USCG released its annual Recreational Boating Statistics 2011 report. Total fatalities from all causes were up considerably as were the number of boat propeller accidents and the number of boat propeller fatalities as compared to 2010.
• 5 June 2012 Yamaha was issued U.S. Patent 8,195,381 for a Virtual Propeller Guard System.
• 12 June 2012 Laass v. Storm Lake, et al. (Mercury Marine and Lund Company) settled.
• 20 July 2012 Charlie Hutton, a 14 year old boy was struck by a propeller off the Isle of Wight in the United Kingdom and died the next day. He was a national caliber field hockey player from a prominent private school. The incident received national attention in the UK and was covered in several other countries as well.
• 20 July 2012 Kali Gorzell, age 16, was struck and killed by a propeller near Aransas Pass, Texas. Although her accident was only covered locally, the coverage was very emotional. She had been a tremendous example to the youth. They started a Live Like Kali program to honor her.
• 22 July 2012 the Propeller Guard Information Center published an extensive list of boat builders that have or are now offering propeller guards on their boats. The boating industry has historically argued that no builders offer or have ever offered propeller guards.
• 12 August 1912 (100 years ago) Leo McNulty, age 13, and his brother Robert, age 8, were landing a boat on the lake at Chicago today. Leo fell over the stern and was killed by the propeller, Robert was severely injured by the same propeller. It is now a hundred years later and just last month (July 2012) we saw two propeller fatalities involving young people on the same day (Charlie Hutton and Kali Gorzell).
• 28 August 2012 John and Barbara McGarrigle v. Mercury Marine settled.
• August 2012 Adrian Todd v. Marine Power International (Mercury Marine Australia) settled.
• 4 September 2012 Guy Taylor received U.S. Patent 8,257,121 for the flip up rear shield for his 3PO Navigator Propeller Guard. The screen flips up when underway to reduce drag. This is the first patent issued in this area since we have been encouraging development of flip up rear screens for guards.
• 6 September 2012 William Coxe III v. Yamaha Motor settled.
• September 2012 RingProp intellectual property (for their ringed propeller) is being offered for sale by Edward Symmons in the UK.
• 13 September 2012 we posted a note on several emerging propeller safety products and a propeller safety campaign that may challenge the boating industry’s traditional courtroom defenses. Among them are:
  • Mercury Marine’s Moving Propeller Alert
  • Australian Environmental Safety Propeller
  • MagBlade MaxThrust and SlipStream Propellers
  • Contrapel Water Jet
  • RingProp (intellectual property is now for sale)
  • Skipper Guard Tracker
  • Volvo Penta’s recently patented Virtual Propeller Guard system
  • Several inventions we have placed in the public domain
  • Use of trim cylinder trailout devices to minimize blunt trauma
  • The Don’t Wreck Your Summer USCG PSA that was banned by the boating industry
• 16 September 2012 Mark Barhanovich of Biloxi, Mississippi hit a dredge pipe near Deer Island. The outboard motor flipped into the boat and he was killed.
• 2 October 2012, PowerTech! Safety Prop wins the IBEX 2012 Innovation Award for Propulsion Parts. We raised the issue of this propeller being quite similar to the Australian Environmental Safety Propeller. All the press around the award mysteriously ceased.
• 8 November 2012 we discovered all mention of Yamaha’s new propeller guard with its associated claims and comments had been removed from the internet by Yamaha. The industry remains totally silent on the issue.
• 9-11 November 2012 NBSAC 90th Meeting, Watsonville California.
• 1 December 2012 Casey Schulman, University of Virginia Semester at Sea student struck and killed by the propeller of a large chartered sail catamaran (Sail Cat) in Dominica.
• 2 December 2012 Terrell Horne, USCG, killed by boat propeller during smuggling interdiction operations off Santa Cruz Island, California.
• 13 December 2012 Australian military (Australian Defence Force and Australian Defence Force Academy) ordered to pay $210,000 AU fine for not using propeller guards on the vessel involved in the February 2010 Minchin accident.