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84 Hazardous Materials Transportation Incident Data for Root Cause Analysis
4.7 Marine Information for Safety
and Law Enforcement (MISLE)
The MISLE database supports the Marine Safety and Operations Programs. MISLE contains
vast amounts of data, including detailed vessel characteristics, cargo carriage authorities, involved
party identities, bridges, facilities and waterways, and records of related Coast Guard activities.
MISLE activities include law enforcement boardings and sightings, marine inspections and inves-
tigations, pollution and response incidents, and search and rescue operations. In addition, MISLE
manages the information flow involving the administration of all of these activities, from the ini-
tial triggering event, to incident management and response, and the resulting follow-on actions.
Its development was initiated in 1992 and it became fully operational in January 2002 when the
Coast Guard transitioned from the Marine Safety Information Reporting System.
4.7.1 Database Description
The database is logically broken into a relational table structure that contains an activity table
that includes all of the incidents reported to MISLE. As the example in Figure 4-4 shows, there
are tables presenting an inventory of facilities and vessels that can be tied to the Activity and
Events Tables. The activities are joined to the Facility Events and Vessel Events Tables, which
provide additional information on the activity reported to MISLE. These, in turn, are joined to
Facility and Vessel Pollution Tables that are also joined to an Injury Table that lists all of the
reported injuries and fatalities associated with the activities.
The pollution activities are a very small portion of the activities reported to MISLE. Commer-
cial, as well as pleasure boat, collisions and groundings are reported. If a reportable quantity of
a hazardous substance is released (40 CFR Part 302), the National Response Center (NRC),
which is administered by the Coast Guard, must be notified promptly, and the vessel operator
must fill out Form CG-2692 and submit it to the Coast Guard to document the event. Note that
the reportable quantity is determined using the EPA list of hazardous substances, which also
includes marine pollutants.
4.7.2 Purpose and Function
The purpose of the MISLE database is to maintain a comprehensive record of vessel, facility,
and Coast Guard activities related to commercial shipping. Incidents resulting in the loss of life
to the public from private boating activities are also included in the database. The information
system contains links to other resources so that Coast Guard personnel can respond quickly to
any major incident. The database part, which is the focus of this discussion, reports all vessel or
facility incidents related to commercial shipping. The documentation of pollution events, while
significant, represents only a small fraction of the documented incidents. The MISLE system
maintains a log documenting the status of all judicial activities associated with the documented
incidents. The record of any incident with an ongoing judicial action is not available publicly
until the case is closed. Since cases are commonly kept open for several years, a comprehensive
picture of the number of pollution events occurring in a given year is difficult to identify from
the publicly available file. The focus of much of the monitoring activities relates to efforts to
speed up judicial actions so that cases can be closed more rapidly.
4.7.3 Data Collection
If a reportable event occurs, the vessel operator must fill out Form CG-2692 and submit it to
the Coast Guard to document the event. There also are cases where Coast Guard personnel file
an event report using CG-2692. Once filed, the Coast Guard accident investigators update the
file as the investigation proceeds.
