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Managing the risk of person overboard

Below are some safety messages from The Fishers Health and Safety Leadership Group and NZ Fishing Health and Safety Forum.

The Fishers Health and Safety Leadership Group and NZ Fishing Health and Safety Forum acknowledge with sadness recent person overboard incidents onboard fishing vessels. 

After time at sea, we all want fishers to return home safely to their whānau, friends and workmates.

Fishing is challenging, highly skilled work done in variable and tough conditions. Person overboard is a critical risk that needs to be top of mind every time fishers head out.

Hazard controls vary from vessel to vessel. We encourage you to consider the following to reduce incidents of person overboard.

  • Make sure crew are trained to identify vessel and task-related hazards that could result in a person overboard. Particularly when working in adverse and changing conditions.
  • Apply a dynamic risk assessment approach at sea. If environment or ship conditions change, reassess the risks and whether it is safe to continue the task. This includes vessel limitations when operating in different environments. Also think about the likelihood of a person overboard and how best to respond to it in your current environment.
  • Eliminate or reduce hazards, including:
    • good vessel maintenance and keeping decks clean and tidy to reduce slips and trips
    • managing lines and gear to minimise the risk of entanglement
    • using physical barriers such as railings and bulwarks (where possible) or safe zones on deck
    • using gear like safety lines and harnesses (where practicable) in areas where crew have to lean over or work close to the edge of the deck
    • making sure the speed of setting gear is safe, appropriate to the conditions and crew capability.
  • Use personal safety gear like personal floatation devices and location beacons when doing operations that could result in a person overboard and have access to knives when setting gear and working with ropes, backbones and other equipment.
  • Make sure crew are trained in person overboard procedures and participate in regular drills to practice emergency response, recovery actions and survival techniques in the water.
  • Make sure adequate vessel risk assessments are done, including where vessels have been modified, are operating a new fishing method or any situation that could increase crew exposure to entanglement and person overboard.

When you experience a person overboard incident, or a near miss, you must notify Maritime NZ. This information helps us respond to incidents, understand what is happening across the sector and identify areas we can focus on to improve safety for all fishers.

Note: The Fishers Health and Safety Leadership Group, chaired by Maritime NZ, includes senior leaders from the deepwater and inshore fishing sectors, the NZ Fishing Health and Safety Forum, NZ Fish Fed and Seafood NZ. Our work together includes the development of an updated safety resource to support fishers to manage their critical risks, called Fishing Safely. Person overboard is included as part of this work. If you would like to learn more, please contact [email protected].