Loose footwear may have contributed to the death of a crewman on board a fishing vessel off the west coast in December 2023, according to the official investigation.
The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report into the incident says that vessel movement and the lack of convenient handholds may also have contributed to a slip or fall.
The incident occurred on board the 22.4 metre fishing vessel, Breizh Arvor Il which was fishing for prawns off the west coast on December 14th 2023.
The vessel was three days into an intended fishing trip of ten to 13 days when one of the crew suffered a fall in the accommodation, the report says.
The vessel was trawling at the time of the incident and the catch from the previous haul was being processed by the crew on deck, it says.
The weather was Beaufort Force 5 with fresh breeze and moderate to rough seas with the vessel “rolling moderately”.
The casualty, a crewman with seven years’ experience on the vessel, was found unresponsive lying on the deck in the sleeping area.
Efforts were made to revive him but unfortunately were not successful. The vessel returned to the home fishing port of Castletownbere, Co Cork and the casualty was landed ashore, it says.
“This was a very unfortunate common slip or fall accident that very unusually resulted in a fatality to a young fisher while he was carrying out his work,” the report says.
“ The accident appears to be the result of the casualty slipping or falling and hitting his head in, or departing from, the accommodation area while following instructions to go to the wheelhouse to take over the watch from the skipper,” it says.
“ Circumstantial evidence would indicate that the casualty may have missed one of the steps or slipped, and then fell forward hitting his head on any number of hard surfaces in the small space,”it says.
“ Alternatively, he may have misjudged the heights in the accommodation area and hit his head first before falling to the deck floor. Loose footwear may also have contributed to an initial fall or hitting his head on the door frame. Vessel movement and the lack of convenient handholds may also have contributed to a slip or fall,”it says.
“There were no major features on the deck floor that could be considered to have caused the fall,"it says.
"Regard must be had to the findings of the coroner that there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that the casualty lost his footing on the ladder, thereby sustaining a neck injury and suffered cardiorespiratory failure,”the MCIB report says.
It recommends that the Minister for Transport should circulate a marine notice, highlighting the importance of wearing secure footwear at all times onboard fishing vessels.
The notice should also advise owners regarding the dangers of restricted headroom in vessels, and to include this hazard in their risk assessment, along with suitable warning signage at the entrance/exit to spaces with restricted headroom, it says.
It says the owner should carry out a risk assessment of the accommodation area and access arrangements with regard to height and space restrictions and should ensure that all crew members are trained in relation to safe movement onboard.
It says that the Health and Safety Authority should review the content of their publication "Managing Health and Safety in Fishing Guidelines" in the light of this report and consider additional content with regard to all aspects of achieving safe movement on fishing vessels.
The full report is here
