Fisher’s Share Safety Stories

Photo: nationalfisherman

The following link takes you to two short videos reminiscing on near-disasters in relation to fishing incidents on vessels in the USA.

https://www.nationalfisherman.com/viewpoints/national-international/almost-accidents-fishermen-share-safety-stories-in-niosh-videos/

Both videos are shot on the boats where the accidents happened. In Glaab’s case it was the seiner Norisle, where while hauling the purse line with the deck winch, the line quickly tightens up, as a crewman walked over it, catapulting him head first on to the winch. The crewman operating the hydraulics didn’t see it happen, but Glaab, who was standing by the rail witnessed it and quickly hit the E-Stop, shutting down the hydraulics. Once the crewman was freed from the winch the crew continued what they were doing without “having a big tragedy.”

The second video is about a man overboard incident.

In the USA falling overboard is the second leading cause of death among commercial fishermen nationwide. Of the 210 fishermen who died from falls overboard between 2000 and 2014 NONE of them were wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) when they drowned. Many of these fatalities would have been prevented if the fisherman had been able to float.