Life-saving equipment & training critical to surviving a fishing vessel disaster
Commercial fishing vessels in the cold, remote waters of Alaska are required to carry equipment to survive vessel sinkings. NIOSH examined the importance of this lifesaving equipment and the need for marine safety training in a recent study published in the journal Safety Science.
Investigators looked at the events surrounding the sinking of 187 fishing vessels off the Alaskan coast during 2000 to 2014. They obtained the information from the NIOSH Commercial Fishing Incident Database, which is a surveillance system of work-related deaths and vessel disasters in the U.S. fishing industry. Among the 617 crewmembers onboard these sinking vessels, 557 survived and 60 died.