While the Costa Concordia shipwreck was certainly an anomaly, there are still dangers for kids on a cruise ship. Keeping these tips in mind, however, can provide additional safety for your family on what should be a pleasant vacation.

Different cruise lines have different protocols for various emergencies. Talk to your children about how to behave if something happens. Do your teenagers know where the muster station is? Some cruise lines require children under 12 to wear wristbands with the location of the muster station, which allows staff to bring the children to the muster station to meet with their parents. In addition, take the safety drill seriously.

It can be easy to get a little too relaxed on a cruise, but some level of vigilance needs to be maintained to prevent a cruise ship passenger injuries. There are not lifeguards on many cruise ships, so children should not swim unattended. Make sure your kids know how to get back to the cabin (these cruise ships are huge). Running on a slippery deck can lead to slips and falls. Teens should have a curfew. The whole family should wash their hands frequently to prevent anyone getting the norovirus, also known as the cruise ship virus.

With these protections, you and your family will likely have a wonderful spring vacation.

Source: Fox News, "What you need to know about kids' safety on a cruise," Eileen Ogintz, Feb. 10, 2012

A local 911 operator received an emergency call after the airboat struck a tree and capsized. One of the victims, a 50-year old male, was catapulted from the boat by the crash.

Personnel and airboats from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Brevard County Sheriff's office and the Camp Holley Fish Camp had to be called to perform the rescue. While this approach took longer than a helicopter rescue, they arrived in time to help the victims with their personal injuries.

Paramedics treated three of the four victims, including the most seriously injured person, at the accident site. The victims were then transported to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne for more extensive treatment of their personal injuries.

While this was a serious accident, even minor crashes of boats on the water often generate substantial personal injuries. Lacking the seatbelts and protective airbags found in automobiles, smaller watercraft expose occupants to a wider variety of personal injury probabilities.

Source: Central Florida News 13, "4 injured in airboat accident on St. John's River," Feb. 8, 2012

The principle is part of premises liability law. Property owners such as shopping mall and hotel operators have a responsibility to protect the safety of their guests. Depending on the facts of a particular case, this responsibility can include taking steps to protect guests from criminal acts of third parties, if those acts are reasonably foreseeable.

A current California case calls attention to the fact that cruise ship passenger injuries can result from such criminal acts.

Ken Carver, founder of a group called International Cruise Victims, questions why there wasn't more video available. After all, the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act requires cruise ship operators to increase their use of surveillance cameras, as well as systems to detect someone going overboard.

The Act also mandates that cruise ships report crimes to the FBI and post information online about crime and missing persons.

"Nobody should go over a ship without video picking it up," Carver said

Source: CBS Local, "Woman Speaks About Cruise Ship Crime After Her Son Vanishes at Sea," Feb. 9, 2012

Last month a 78-year-old man was seriously injured when his boat, moored in the John Wayne Marina located in Sequim, Washington, exploded. The vessel involved in the accident was described as a 40-foot pleasure boat.

The explosion caused property damage to surrounding boats within 75 yards as well. It is not clear how many boats were affected in that way, but reportedly some of the damage done was broken windows.

Before the paramedics arrived, people on a boat nearby were able to pull the man out of the water. He was found, covered by pieces of his destroyed boat, in what was left of the hull. The paramedics transported him to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The man's injuries were serious. In addition to a back injury and broken bones, he was also burned in the incident. At the hospital he was listed in critical condition. Sadly, the injuries proved to be too devastating to recover from and the man died a week later.

Source: Q13 Fox News Online, "Forty-foot boat explodes at marina, man dies from his injuries," Feb. 9, 2012

Apparently, while motoring at around 25 mph, the owner/driver reached down to grab a cup of morning coffee. This "minor distraction" caused him to make contact with a homeowner's dock. To further accentuate the, originally, minor boating accident, the impact with the dock apparently caused the owner to go to "throttle fully open," while being forcefully ejected from the craft. His vessel then circled out of operator control striking a seawall.

The accident remains under investigation, but the police have not yet issued any citations. Unlike so many water vessel crashes, alcohol does not appear to be a related factor. However, some might call this a coffee-related accident. Have minor distractions ever played a role in personal injuries in your world--either personally or with family and friends?

Source: Tampa Bay Newspapers Weekly, "Two injured in boating accident," Jan. 30, 2012

So far, a total of 16 bodies have been recovered from the cruise ship. Another 16 people are still missing. In addition, around 100 people were hurt in the course of the seemingly mismanaged evacuation.

In addition to covering luggage that was lost, the payment is designed to address psychological trauma sustained as well. Among other things, Costa reportedly also intends on reimbursing the cost of the cruise to those people as well as the amount it cost for those passengers to return home after the incident.

Many of those to whom the offer was made do not plan on accepting it. Those individuals are entitled to file their own lawsuit. It is likely many of them will.

There is certainly more to come on this tragic accident. We will of course continue to monitor the developments.

Source: USA Today, "Costa offers $14.5K per passenger for ruined cruise," Jan. 27, 2012

In this boating accident, a 26-year old Charlotte woman lost her right arm after being struck by a propeller after she jumped off the boat in which she was a passenger. She recently sued the boat operator, owner and manufacturer. Are any of these people/companies culpable? This case will decide.

The 24-foot Chaparral was rented to the driver for the annual "Lake Bash" party. The suit requests damages, including lost wages, medical costs, pain and suffering, and the loss of limb. The action alleges that the operator, renter and manufacturer were negligent in operating and/or designing the vessel for safe operation. Additional allegations include lack of operator experience and a "failure to warn" of dangers of crowded lake-based events.

This, and similar boating accidents, may or may not involve negligence. The facts, conditions and actions of both operator and victim must be weighed and evaluated. However, the results of this legal action should uncover the pertinent facts and lead reasonable juries or judges to fair conclusions.

Source: WCNC, "Woman who lost arm in Lake Norman boating incident files lawsuit," Jan. 20, 2012

The man admitted to driving his boat into the fishing boat around midnight, in early May of 2002. At the time of the collision, there were three people aboard the fishing boat. In addition to the man who died, the accident, which occurred on Lake Buchanan in Texas, also injured the two other passengers.

The man was fined close to $10,000, must spend 100days in the Burnet County Jail and faces 10 years of probation.

For over eight years, investigators working on the case had been unsuccessful in determining who was responsible for the fatal accident. In 2010, they learned that the man had previously owned a boat that matched the description of the one they were looking for. It was discovered on the man's property but had been buried by the man in an effort to hide his involvement in the incident.

In cases like this it is not uncommon for a civil case to be filed as well. When negligent behavior that results in injury takes place on the water, a different law applies. Though the system is different, when successful, the end result is similar to other personal injury type cases and the plaintiff receives financial compensation for his or her injury or loss.

Source: The Highlander, "Marburger gets 10-year probated sentence, 100 days in jail," James Walker, Jan. 20, 2012

Rescue workers had to suspend their search of the massive cruise ship recently after sensors detected movement of the ship. Rescuers were worried that the ship would dislodge from its perch on the underwater rocks by the island of Giglio and sink to the sea bed. Currently the ship is leaning on its side and many survivors are recounting stories of the chaotic evacuation procedures aboard the ship.

Authorities are assessing their options to help stabilize the ship and prevent it from slipping. One possibility is that anchors could be thrown around the rocks that are holding the Costa Concordia up. The anchors would be tethered around the ship with chains. The problem is that the size and weight of the ship make this hard to achieve.

"It's very difficult," an Italian coast guard official said. "The Concordia weighs 110,000 tons and it's like a 300 meter-high skyscraper in a horizontal position."

There were about 4,200 people aboard the cruise ship when it crashed last week. About 3,200 passengers were on the ship with 1,000 crew members. Among the missing passengers is a Minnesotan couple.

The Costa Concordia's captain is currently under house arrest based on allegations that he caused the wreck and then abandoned ship before passengers were able to safely get off of the sinking vessel. We will discuss further details of the search and rescue operation as they become available.

Source: CNN, "Rescuers to resume search on doomed Italian cruise ship," Jan. 20, 2012

The five bodies were found after Italian Navy divers blasted holes in the ship's hull to provide rescue divers with better access to the ship's interior, but it was unclear if those efforts led to the discoveries.

With nearly two dozen people still reported missing from the ship, which is lying on its side in the Tuscan waters off Giglio, Italy, a judge ordered its captain held pending a later decision on whether he should be released.

In transcripts of conversations between Schettino and the Italian coast guard, published by the Corriere della Sera newspaper, the captain gives conflicting accounts of what happened when the ship hit rocks Friday night just off Italy's western coast, leading to what passengers described as a chaotic and surreal scene as they rushed to evacuate.

At first, Schettino tells an official he had abandoned the vessel, according to the transcripts which prosecutors say match those they are using in their investigation.

But as the official questions his decision, Schettino appears to reverse course and say he had not abandoned ship but was "catapulted into the water" at some point after the ship ran into a rock, began taking on water and started listing.

In a later conversation, an Italian coast guard official demands Schettino return to his ship, the transcripts show.

"You get on board! This is an order!" the coast guard official instructed Schettino.

"You have declared 'Abandon ship.' Now I'm in charge. You get on board -- is that clear?" the port official said.

Port Authority to cruise ship captain: 'Get on board, damn it'

Rescue and recovery efforts continued Tuesday, with divers searching the ship for survivors and remains.

It was unclear exactly how many people were missing. There were roughly 4,200 people on the Costa Concordia when it ran aground -- about 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew members, the vast majority of whom made it off the ship safely.

Before the discovery of the five bodies Tuesday, authorities had said 28 people were missing, including 14 Germans, six Italians, four French citizens, two Americans, and one each from Hungary, India and Peru. There was continued confusion Tuesday about the number of missing Germans, according to the German Foreign Ministry.

One person on the list of missing was found dead Monday, but authorities have not specified which one it is.

A friend of two missing Americans, Gerald and Barbara Ann Heil of White Bear Lake, Minnesota, said their family is "holding up very well" despite the agonizing wait for word from Italy, where the couple had gone for "their trip of a lifetime" after raising four children and working in their community for years.

Source: The Louisiana Record, "Seaman seeks $2.5 million after slipping down stairs due to wet boots," Michelle Keahey, Dec. 19, 2011