The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch published its final report on Oct. 8 on the death of a crew member aboard P&O Arvia.

From its findings it identified ineffective planning and communication as well as a reliance on self-resetting door interlocks, among the directly contributing safety issues.

The 35-year-old electrical technician who died on Oct. 26, 2025, while the Arvia was sailing from Southampton to Santa Cruz de Tenerife with 5,299 passengers and 1,681 crew onboard, according to the report.

The MAIB investigated on behalf of the Bermuda Ship Registry.

The report says that he was inspecting passenger lift 14 after overnight repairs when it reactivated and moved upward, crushing him against the side of the shaft at about 5:52 a.m., roughly 75 nautical miles northwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain.

The ship’s doctor pronounced him dead at 6:07 a.m. and the Arvia was diverted to A Coruña, Spain, where the body was taken ashore.

According to the MAIB, the technician and a supervising officer were testing the lift when he could not open a deck’s shaft doors, as the release mechanism was defective, so he entered the shaft from another deck instead.

Both sets of doors then closed, the safety circuit was restored and a stored call sent the lift upward.

The MAIB listed five directly contributing safety issues.

They include that the two men did not share an understanding of the task, that positive control of the lift had not been established before he entered the shaft, and that the work relied on door interlocks that “did not provide an effective safety barrier” because they reset themselves when the doors closed.

The permit to work was also not revised when the scope of the job changed.

Other issues were noted such as the officer who created the permit had no formal lift safety training with Carnival UK. Also, the defective door release mechanism prompted the use of another route into the shaft.

The MAIB had made one recommendation, 2026/159, asking Carnival UK to review the use of self-resetting lift door interlocks as a safety barrier during maintenance or inspection.

The report says Carnival UK has told staff electro-technical officers across the fleet to reinforce lift maintenance and rescue requirements, banned the use of the fixed shaft ladder to reach the top of the lift car, and introduced an interim requirement for lift maintenance staff to complete manufacturer or third-party safety training within the previous six months, along with a competency verification process.