Tag Archives: personal flotation devices
Crew on ill-fated trawler Njord which sank after capsizing ‘weren’t wearing lifejackets’
Seven fishermen on board the Njord, skippered by Danny Normandale from Scarborough, were rescued uninjured. However, an eighth crewmember “succumbed to the effects of immersion in cold water” and drowned, the summary issued by the Marine Accident Investigation Board said. A rescue operation was launched after the alarm was raised on March 6 2022. The interim report said the stern trawler, which was 150 miles north-east of Peterhead, Scotland, capsized on calm seas, while processing a large haul of fish. >click to read< 08:55
PFD’s: New Brunswick to make personal flotation devices mandatory for commercial fishing industry
The New Brunswick government has introduced legislation to make personal flotation devices or life jackets mandatory for the commercial fishing industry, answering a recommendation issued after two fishermen drowned in 2016. There is no requirement for fishers to wear life jackets, or PFDs, under current legislation, something the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said should change given the frequency of drowning in the industry. Fishing vessels are not considered workplaces under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, leaving WorkSafeNB unable to enforce safety standards. >click to read< 21:43
Tide turning on wearing safety gear – Campaign says lobstermen listening
On Wednesday, Carpenter stopped by the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier to check out the 11 different varieties of personal flotation devices available for inspection and purchase as part of the Lifejackets for Lobstermen campaign being run by the Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety. The campaign, designed to convince more commercial lobstermen to wear personal flotation devices while fishing, has spent the summer in 40 lobstering communities up and down the New England coast. Photo’s, >click to read< 15:18
EDITORIAL: Change tack to save lives
At this time of year, we tend to focus our attention on road deaths, particularly the role drinking and driving plays in them. But as a province and a region surrounded by oceans and dotted with lakes, it is also vital to consider the dangers that lurk on the water as opposed to roads. The fact is, quite a few people die while working or enjoying leisure time on waterways. In its annual report, the Canadian Red Cross released unofficial numbers showing that there were 39 water-related deaths in Atlantic Canada in 2018. Nova Scotia’s share of that total was 16. Some of the deaths were related to commercial fishing while others occurred while people were involved in recreational fishing, boating and swimming at lakes and on beaches. >click to read<07:17
Welsh Personal Flotation Devices discount offer extended
Welsh vessel owners have been given an extra month to apply for discounted Personal Flotation Devices (PFDs) offered by the Welsh Fishing Safety Committee (WFSC), supported by Seafish, ahead of The International Labour Organisation: Work in Fishing Convention (ILO 188) enforcement. 30 June is the new deadline to apply for the PFD with in-built PLB and vessel owners are being urged to take advantage of the offer because the ILO convention will likely require all commercial fishermen to wear PFDs on deck while at sea by the end of this year. >click to read<11:23
PFD’s: Fishing is a deadly business, but many fishermen won’t wear life preservers
One rogue wave or false step, an ankle caught in a line, is all it takes to cast a fisherman overboard. But those risks have never been enough to convince Rick Beal that it’s worth wearing a life preserver. Even though he has never learned how to swim. Commercial fishing ranks among the most dangerous professions, but fishermen — fiercely independent and resistant to regulations — have long shunned life preservers, often dismissing the flotation devices as inconvenient and constraining. click here to read the story 14:46 
USCG Calls For PLBs On EVERY Life Jacket
In the United States Coast Guard’s upcoming El Faro investigation report, Captain Jason Neubauer USCG, Chairman of the Marine Board of Investigation, will recommend that all Personal Flotation Devices on oceangoing commercial vessels be outfitted with a Personal Locator Beacon.,,, A PLB (personal locator beacon) is a specific type of EPIRB that is typically smaller, less expensive, has a shorter battery life and unlike a proper EPIRB is registered to a person rather than a vessel. click here to read the story 09:41
Fishermen’s group pushes wearing Personal Flotation Devices
The Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association says the use of personal flotation devices in the commercial fishing industry is growing, but more work needs to be done. Melanie Sonnenberg, the association’s program manager, said she wasn’t surprised by the Transportation Safety Board’s latest push for mandatory use of personal flotation devices in the industry, a popular topic for years. “There’s been a great push with working with suppliers to develop products that are much more commercial fishing friendly,” she said. “We’ve seen a culture shift here in the industry. click here to read the story 12:34
$1.3-million for new safety gear coming for 600 N.S. fishermen
The Gulf Nova Scotia Fleet Planning Board is buying $1.3-million worth of safety equipment for 600 fishermen, it announced Friday. The equipment purchase includes 1,200 immersion suits, 600 emergency position-indicating radio beacons and 100 additional personal flotation devices. The Fleet Planning Board will also buy an automatic electronic defibrillator for each wharf in the Gulf of Nova Scotia. “We hope we never have to use this new equipment,” the board’s managing director, said in a news release. “But if it saves just one life then it was money very well spent.”,,, Click here to read the story 17:11
Wanted: Lobstermen willing to try out life vests
The Northeast Center for Occupational Health and Safety is asking New England lobstermen to help design a life jacket they would actually wear every day. It could be a matter of life or death. Researchers will visit Maine docks this winter to recruit fishermen to try out different kinds of personal flotation devices, or PFDs, for a month to determine which designs work best for daily use aboard a lobster boat. The lobstermen will be paid to test the life vest, and can keep it for their own use once they are done. “This isn’t about making lobstermen wear anything, telling them what to do or regulating anything,” said principal investigator Julie Sorensen of the Northeast Center. “It’s about making PFDs comfortable enough that fishermen want to wear them.” Statistics suggest it will be a hard sell, but well worth it. Researchers at the Northeast Center hope their PFD design study, which is being conducted with Fishing Partnership Support Services of Massachusetts, will help manufacturers tailor flotation devices to the lobster industry and convince fishermen a vest can save their lives without making them miserable or poor. In two years, they will return to the docks with the most popular design for nine-month trials. Read the article here 08:07
PFDs That Work – Personal Flotation Devices Prevent Fishermen Deaths
Researchers from the NIOSH Alaska Pacific Office asked commercial fishermen from 4 gear groups (crabbers, trawlers, longliners, gillnetters) to rate the comfort and acceptability of six modern personal flotation devices (PFDs). About 200 fishermen evaluated various PFDs for one month while working on deck so that wearable PFDs could be identified.1 Fishermen evaluated inflatable PFDs and foam PFDs that were either integrated into their rain gear or were worn in addition to raingear. Since deck work and fishing season varies for each gear group, fishermen had different preferences. Each gear group identified PFDs that are comfortable and easy to wear and are currently available for sale. The key to finding the proper PFD is to try on many to make sure they will work for the specific activities related to your type of fishing. Working on crowded decks and in close proximity to gear make it vitally important that a PFD not become a snagging hazard. Fishermen who work in colder weather may prefer a PFD with more foam padding for insulation against the weather. Read the rest here 14:53
More fishermen using personal flotation devices; still room for improvement
Commercial fishing has been getting safer as more people heading to sea are willing to wear personal flotation devices, says a fishing safety consultant with the Workers’ Compensation Board of Nova Scotia. “Most folks are doing a good job,” says Tommy Harper. He was in Eastern Passage on Thursday, leading a man-overboard exercise for fishermen and an education session on personal flotation devices. Read the rest here 22:32
