Oregon crab fishing safety assessment

Details

• Personal Author:
  Croteau, Gerry ; Zoller E
• Description:
  The Oregon Dungeness crab fishery represents one of the most dangerous work environments in the US, with most fatalities (79%) resulting from capsized vessels while crossing river bars or working near shore. During the period 2003-2009, 14 deaths were recorded. None of the 14 drowning victims were wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) at the time of the incident. A study was conducted to investigate the perceptions and experiences of Oregon Dungeness crab fishermen regarding critical safety issues. The study entailed a dockside survey of crab fishermen in November 2010 in Newport, Oregon, as they prepared for the 2010-2011 season. In addition, five different types of PFDs were distributed to 50 fishermen who completed the dockside survey. These volunteers were asked to complete and return a survey after using the PFD for 30 days. A total of 83 fishermen, including 24 vessel captains, completed the dockside survey and a completed PFD assessment survey was returned by 33 of the fishermen. Overall, PFD use was found to be infrequent, with the majority of respondents indicating a PFD was never routinely worn either crossing the bar, working on deck, or in transit. Just 61 and 54 percent of the respondents indicated they would wear a PFD during an emergency or storm, respectively. Respondents indicated lack of comfort (31%), potential for gear entanglement (31%) and interfering with movement when working (60%) as the primary factors for not wearing a PFD. Respondents' perspectives regarding key safety issues were also insightful. Weather and tide, and to lesser degree economic factors affected a vessel captain's decision to cross a river bar; the following factors were found to be "very important" as indicated by the percentage of total respondents: timing of tides (96%), weather reports (83%) , height of tide (67%), time of season (39%), amount of crab caught (21%), and time since pots last tended (17%). Seventy-five percent of the captains interviewed successfully completed a U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Commercial Fishing Vessel Safety Exam and had a Vessel Safety Decal affixed to their vessel. The dockside exams were considered to be valuable by 59 percent of the respondents and 72 percent indicated the USCG dockside exams improve safety. Marine safety classes had been completed by 60 percent of the participants, with 86 percent indicating they were valuable. Safety drills were conducted on board according to 72 percent of the respondents, with about one-third indicating drills were conducted once at the beginning of the season and another third indicating drills were conducted a few times each season. Most captains (56%) do not have a stability report for their vessel, although 68 percent of the captains thought stability reports were valuable. Overall, an inflatable vest type PFD received the most favorable comments regarding its comfort and ability to work in. However, each PFD assessed was found to have distinct advantages and disadvantages, an indication that personal preference is an important factor in an individual's selection and subsequent use of a PFD. Based on the study results, additional efforts should be made to encourage PFD use, expand safety training and on board safety drills, and improve understanding of vessel stability. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Hunting Men Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Surveys And Questionnaires Women
• Keywords:
  Behavior-patterns Fishing-industry Humans Marine-workers Personal-protection Personal-protective-equipment Questionnaires
• Publisher:
  University of Washington
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-74
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20046471
• Citation:
  Seattle, WA: University of Washington, 2011 Dec; :1-74
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2012
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of Washington
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20010930
• Source Full Name:
  Oregon crab fishing safety assessment
• End Date:
  20270929
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:dd6875314aff56471ee3f8178f1543f51717dfb8515f69519faeff284a3780cf949dcee3c7de5bf35cd972426fc26a13ef6f56cf58a86ba9381c04d3cda83681
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/201519/cdc_201519_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 10.02 MB ]