Improving Crew Overboard Recovery for Commercial Fishing Vessels in the Gulf of Mexico

Details

• Personal Author:
  Levin, Jeffrey L.
• Description:
  Occupational fatality rates in the commercial fishing industry in the United States remain more than 20 times higher than the national average. Falls overboard from a fishing vessel account for the second highest number of commercial fishing related fatalities. The burden of commercial fishing fatalities due to unintentional falls overboard is highest in the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery, supporting the need for increased personal floatation device (PFD) use while working aboard vessel, as well as for recovery devices to reduce fatalities from crew overboard incidents. This quasi-experimental, pre-/post-test project focused on the latter by disseminating recovery slings to Gulf of Mexico fishermen, training in their use, and examining impact by assessing the attitudes, beliefs, and intentions of fishermen in their adoption. The research team used a land-based simulation to train 123 commercial fishermen in crew overboard recovery using life slings and a mechanical advantage. A life sling was provided for each fishing vessel represented at the trainings. The results suggest that attitudes and beliefs of this group of commercial fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico can be favorably influenced toward a recovery device of this nature, as well as their confidence and intention to use such devices. Moreover, these favorable perceptions were extended to use of PFDs. However, the results also show that attitudes and beliefs may wane over time, emphasizing the need for repeated training and survival drills in this industry. Further, there was notable discordance between immediately enhanced attitudes and beliefs toward the importance of PFD use aboard vessel with training, and a significant decline over time of intent to use these devices. Ongoing research and replication of these efforts will be necessary to continue to explore best practices for increasing adoption and optimal use of life-saving recovery devices and PFDs in the Gulf, as well as among other fisheries in the United States. Future considerations might include study efforts involving simultaneous distribution of traditional PFDs with recovery slings. Educational simulation utilizing manikins aboard squared-away vessels as originally proposed would also contribute to measuring the effectiveness of this type of drills training. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Drowning Hunting Mortality Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Attitude Fatalities Fishing Industry Personal Flotation Device PFD Safety Equipment Simulation Methods Training
• Series:
  Grant Final Reports
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Final Cooperative Agreement Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 6 ; Texas
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  OEP - Office of Extramural Programs
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-15
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069490
• Citation:
  Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, U01-OH-011926, 2023 Nov; :1-15
• Email:
  jeffrey.levin@uthct.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  University of Texas Health Center at Tyler
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20190901
• Source Full Name:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• End Date:
  20210831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2566dded1a7cb08a14d4104e268c903686f763264a2b296447d6bec0e4c181da43c26e9d403b1782c0004ed8c5753c99f1e39c50ffbf812fe913c22be4096b76
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219230/cdc_219230_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 326.81 KB ]