Commercial Fishing Vessel Skipper Dies After Being Pulled Into a Deck Winch -- Alaska

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Alaska Fatality Assessment & Control Evaluation Project (Alaska FACE) ; Alaska. Division of Public Health. Section of Epidemiology. Occupational Injury Prevention Program
• Description:
  On August 2, 1995, a 24-year-old, male commercial fishing vessel skipper (victim) died as a result of being pulled into a deck winch of a 56-foot purse seiner working the salmon fishery. The incident occurred while a load of salmon was being brought in and the seine net pursed prior to placing the load on the vessel's deck. A line ("purse line") from the net was placed through the winch head to close the bottom of the seine net. The vessel skipper stood on the starboard side of the vessel near the deck winch, while he coiled the purse line onto the deck as it came through the winch. The "pass line," which connects to the purse line and is used to bring the purse line onto the vessel, was disconnected from the boat end of the net. This line fell across the deck winch. The victim reached over and picked up this line to remove it and keep the line from becoming entangled in the winch. During this process his raingear was caught by the moving purse line and he was pulled through the winch head one revolution. As he came around the other side of the winch his head struck the deck. CPR was attempted but was unsuccessful because the crewmen could not get a clear airway. Based on the findings of the epidemiologic investigation, to prevent similar occurrences employers should: 1. ensure that all winch operators do not work so close to winch-driven lines or rotating winch heads as to potentially entangle the worker or the worker's clothing. 2. ensure that all winch operators confine loose clothing, as far as is practicable, when working near a winch-driven line or rotating winch head. 3. ensure that winches have a foot pedal-operated "deadman's switch" that would deactivate the winch if the operator lost his balance and removed his foot from the switch or assign an operator to attend the winch control at all times.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Hunting Occupational Exposure Occupational Health Occupational Injuries Personal Protective Equipment Protective Clothing Safety Safety Management Workplace

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• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Equipment-operators Fishing-industry Injuries Injury-prevention Machine-guarding Occupational-accidents Occupational-hazards OSHA Region 10 Safety-clothing Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-practices Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-environment Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Commercial Fishing
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95AK023
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Alaska ; OSHA Region 10
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20026896
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-111901
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 95AK023, 1995 Sep ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Alaska Department of Health and Social Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  11 - Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:10121be2f744b56bb33d3df2f2e5b88da5db66c1c88534aa07f6cb33a29a3cd2781d2d1528fe10dc01aa5b7d683d8af160281694fec70b909d72b658dac60ad6
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169114/cdc_169114_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 32.19 KB ]