Trawler Fishermen’s Personal Floatation Devices: Wear Assessment and Prototype Development

Details

• Personal Author:
  Black C
• Description:
  1. To evaluate fishermen's attitudes toward and satisfaction with current personal flotation devices (PFD), personal protective equipment (PPE), and the work clothing worn with PFDs. To identify and investigate the relationships between hazardous working conditions and PFD, PPE, and work clothing. The occupational hazards experienced by commercial shrimpers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The participants identified several occupational hazards in their interviews. Eleven hazards were reported forty times. The hazards discussed in interviews most often were storms and hazardous weather, followed by fishing nets, extreme temperatures, and working at night. Other hazards mentioned more than once include high waves, re-boarding the vessel after an overboard, and winch injuries. Some hazards mentioned once included boots filling with water, ropes creating trip hazards, lacerations from a knife, collisions with other boats, and high noise in the engine room. Participants often spoke about hazards associated with weather and thunderstorms. Many noted the desire to plan outings around the weather. As one said, "You know, the best thing to know about seamanship, right, is not to need any. Go when the weather is pretty." However, storms often appear out of nowhere once a fishing vessel is away from shore. Some participants shared survival stories from severe weather encounters such as "...and a storm hit us in Biloxi; it was solid black. It was set a 100-mile-an-hour wind. It took every basket; everything we had on the deck was gone. It has blown it off..." and "A squall came up, and we were probably a mile offshore with very good visibility, and it went down to no visibility. I could not even see the 60- and 70-foot boats around me, and it scared me... We got struck by lightning that day." The shrimpers were not wearing ballistics vests. Participants raised a few safety concerns about the various fishing nets used and working with PFDs. They did indicate "You can drown very easily without a life jacket. Personal flotation devices were not often worn when checking or dislodging nets because fishers often must maneuver under the boat. Hazards were also reported when bringing in the nets. The extreme heat, high humidity, and low wind were mentioned by participants as a reason not to wear a PFD. Most participants reported going overboard at some point in their fishing career, though many overboard incidents were voluntary to work on the vessel or nets. However, one hazard noted throughout the interviews was difficulty re-boarding the vessel after an overboard incident, whether it was voluntary or not. Getting back on board and issues with PFD's was reported. A variety of hazards were mentioned by two participants about the operation of the winch. Sadly, that's one of the bigger mishaps that happen is people getting caught in the winches. Loose clothing snatches them in, and before you can shut it off, it lines them up." 2: To evaluate PFDs currently worn by fishers. The effectiveness of current PFDs were assessed by the researchers. Data collected on the effectiveness of PFDs were collected at the interviews. Interviews indicated that the Shrimpers rarely or never work PFDs. One Shrimper stated "I've never put a life jacket on when I'm on the boat. Never even put one on. I can swim. You know, but I just never -never really got hurt during or have fallen overboard." Getting information on the brand and types of PFDs worn was challenging since most Shrimpers do not wear their PFDs. Shrimpers are aware they should wear, that they can get a ticket, and be forced to put them on. Yet, most Shrimpers choose not to wear PFDs. One Shrimper said, "The question becomes how to get Shrimpers to see a PFD in the same light as wearing a seatbelt." Evaluating current and changing PDFs to meet the needs of the Shrimpers remains a challenge. One Shrimpers indicated why he thinks fishers do not wear vests "I think the reason why most people don't wear a life jacket is you know, it's never been a standard, you know people - people never wear life jackets." [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Hunting Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety
• Keywords:
  Clothing Fishing Industry Life Jackets Marine Workers Personal Flotation Device Personal Protective Equipment PFD PPE Storms
• 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:
  Mississippi ; OSHA Region 4
• 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:
  1-10
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20069761
• 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-011924, 2024 Feb; :1-10
• Contact Point Address:
  Catherine Black, PhD, Mississippi State University, PO Box 5227, McArthur Hall, Mississippi State, MS 39762-5227
• Email:
  cmb1356@msstate.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2024
• Performing Organization:
  Mississippi State University
• 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-512:3920ffd355bfba478efe6582f8b8131c4828bc7e72241c69e1eb614533fa84defd54361fc86173485de3baf97f9f5fff10d01eb2c97b03157576054eaf4eea85
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/219260/cdc_219260_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 220.50 KB ]