Tag Archives: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Seafood Processing Vessel’s Operator Continues to Expose Crews to a Bounty of Safety, Health Violations
Working in the Alaskan fishing industry – an occupation already regarded as one of the nation’s most dangerous – employees aboard the F/V Pacific Producer faced dangers purely of their employer’s making, an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Coast Guard has found. An inspection by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration was initially opened in July 2022 in Kodiak, Alaska, but was delayed when the F/V Pacific Producer – a 472-ton seafood processing vessel – departed the port. Through coordination with USCG’s Sector Puget Sound, a joint inspection resumed when the vessel arrived in Seattle in October. Inspectors found murky, brown water in the ship’s drinking water system; crew members being served expired food; water used to process fish leaking into dry food storage and the galley’s dining area; and other unsanitary conditions throughout the vessel. >click to read< 21:27
New Bedford Fish processing workers worried about respiratory health
Workers are complaining of respiratory issues due to a fish processing machine that releases vapors. Worker advocacy groups sent a letter last week to a city seafood processing facility detailing concerns about worker health. The letter, delivered April 19 in person and by email to North Coast Seafoods, discusses “troubling symptoms and illness” among current and former workers. The workers believe it is caused by a machine they say cuts and debones fish with hot water and pressure. “It produces and releases a smoke-like vapor that contains fish particulates. There has been some effort to channel the vapor out of the building, and while filters are used, they are often clogged,” >click to read< 14:25
