Commercial fishing has always been a high-risk activity. Working on lobster boats buffeted by the waves, fishers handle heavy traps and long lengths of rope on slippery and unstable surfaces; conditions that can lead to falls overboard. Nevertheless, “this is the first time in Québec and Canada that researchers have studied the risks of falling overboard, in addition to documenting means of prevention and determining promising avenues to reduce these risks,” remarks professor Sylvie Montreuil of Université Laval, the study’s principal author.

Methodology
The researchers analyzed the responses to questionnaires given to captains and deckhands along the Gaspé peninsula and on the Magdalen Islands. They also made direct observations and shot video on seven vessels during 20 outings at sea, enabling them to understand the risks of falling overboard and to identify incident scenarios. The information was then validated by the fishers who had received the researchers on their boats. A review of the literature was also carried out.

Situations and Factors of Risk
The researchers documented six of the riskiest working situations. Three of them are associated with the season’s opening: moving the boat from the wharf to the fishing area, and loading and dropping the traps; and three others during the regular fishing season: hauling up the traps, setting them back in the water, and moving the lines of traps. They then analyzed and classified the risk factors into four major categories: (1) those related to rope management and work methods; (2) those related to the weather and fishery management regulations; (3) those related to the workers (attitudes and experience); (4) those related to the layout of the boat, the wharf and equipment.

Avevues of Prevention
For the researchers, the first step toward preventing falls overboard consists of using the results of the study and the material gathered to enrich the training content for novice fishers and sharing the safety tips of experienced fishers. The second is to rethink how the hauler and support table for the traps are set up.

The study financed by the Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST) is available for free download at: http://www.irsst.qc.ca/media/documents/PubIRSST/R-869.pdf

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Source
Jacques Millette
Public Affairs Officer
IRSST