In Alaska, commercial fishing is a major industry. If a resident in the state is not themselves employed in this industry, there is likely a good chance that they know someone else who is. Despite the prevalence of people working on fishing vessels, nothing can eliminate the inherent dangers associated with this line of work.
According to records from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rate of workplace deaths in the commercial industry is 29 times greater than across all other industries nationwide. These fatalities and other nonfatal injuries may result from incidents involving the machines onboard a vessel’s deck, from disasters involving the vessel itself or from falls.
A commercial fishing vessel worker can be at risk of falling overboard. This makes it imperative that workers always wear personal floatation devices. Sadly, this does not always happen. CDC data shows that 210 people died between 2000 and 2014 after they fell overboard without being equipped with PFDs on commercial fishing vessels.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicates that many other fall risks exist on commercial vessels. Dangerous tasks include working on vessel masts, welding hull exteriors and painting on a vessel outside the rails. Fall protection is important and ideally involves fall restraint systems that prevent falls. Fall arrest systems are not able to prevent falls but are designed to reduce the impact of any fall and may be used if it is not possible to appropriately install fall restraint systems. Crew members should be trained on when fall protection is necessary and how to implement it properly.
