Safety culture in the fishing industry
Fishery has always been considered a dangerous industry, but during the last 15 years a lot has happened on the safety area. The latest study of reported injuries within the fishing industry was made by CMHS in 1994. The current project will study the changes which have happened in the period from 1998 – 2012. The project will include a survey of reported accidents and injuries within the fishing industry, interviews with fishermen and an intervention.
Objective
The aim of the project is to prevent injuries by developing methods for improving the safety culture onboard fishing vessels. The main focus of the project is safety culture – meaning the ways in which safety is managed in the workplace. Safety culture is a proactive approach to safety.
The project consists of two parts; an analysis of reported accidents and injuries and an intervention which is aimed at fishery schools.
Method
In the first phase of the project, qualitative as well as quantitative data are used. The second phase is the intervention. The first step is to study the safety work within the fishing industry and to survey the development of accidents and injuries during the last 14 years. The aim of this initial step is to confirm that a safety culture intervention is feasible. The basic structures of safety work need to be present before an intervention can take place. Another aim is to update our knowledge about the frequency of accidents and injuries in fishery.
Two researchers from CMHS will conduct the study by using qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative part consists of an analysis of reported accidents and injuries. The qualitative part consists of a small ethnographic fieldwork in Thyborøn and surroundings including observations, photo documentation and interviews.
Economy
The project is financed by the European Fisheries Fund (Den Europæiske Fiskerifond)
Timetable: April 2013 – June 2014
The following institutions participate
Centre of Maritime Health and Society
The Danish Fishermen’s Occupational Health Services
TeamArbejdsliv
Project group
Sisse Grøn, Team Arbejdsliv, project leader and guest researcher for Centre of Maritime Health and Society
Hanna B. Rasmussen, Centre of Maritime Health and Society
Flemming Nygaard Christensen, the Danish Fishermen’s Occupational Health Services
Eva Thoft, TeamArbejdsliv
You can read the final report here: Report in PDF format
Grøn S., Rasmussen H.B., Poulsen T.R. og Christensen F.N. 'Safety in the Danish fishing industry'.