Occupational and Environmental Medicine 1994;51:612-616

Traumatic work related fatalities in commercialfishermen in Australia

Timothy R Driscoll, Guncha Ansari, James E Harrison, Michael S Frommer,Elizabeth A Ruck

AbstractObjectives-To describe the types andcircumstances of traumatic work relatedfatalities in Australian commercial fish-ermen.Methods-Work related traumatic fish-ing fatalities were studied as part of alarger study of all work related traumaticfatalities in Australia from 1982 to 1984.Data on 47 cases were obtained frominspection ofcoroners' files.Results-The incidence of fatality of1431100 000 person-years was 18 timeshigher than the incidence of fatality forthe entire workforce, and considerablyhigher than that of the ming and agri-cultural workforces. 68% of decedentsdrowned and 13% died from physicaltrauma. Rough weather, non-seaworthyvessels, inadequate use of personal flota-tion devices, and inexperience were asso-ciated with many ofthe fatal incidents.Discussion-Improved vessel and equip-ment maintenance, better trining ofworkers, greater use of personal flotationdevices, and development of improvedclothing and personal flotation devicesare recommended.

(Occup Environ Med 1994;51:612-616)

National Institute ofOccupational Healthand Safety, WorksafeAustralia, GPO Box58, Sydney, NSW 2001,AustraliaT R DriscollG AnsariE A RuckNational InjurySurveillance Unit,Australian Institute ofHealth, MarkOliphant Building,

Laffer Drive, BedfordPark SA 5042,AustraliaJ E HarrisonEpidemiology andHealth ServicesEvaluation Branch,NSW HealthDepartment, NorthSydney, AustraliaM S FrommerCorrespondence to:Dr T R Driscoll,Epidemiology andSurveillance Unit, NIOHS(Worksafe Australia), GPOBox 58, Sydney, NSW2001, Australia.Accepted 16 May 1994

Keywords: occupational fatalities, fishing, drowning

Commercial fishermen are exposed to somehazards rarely encountered in other occupa-tions, including water, extremes of weather,and marine animals, as well as more wide-spread hazards such as mechanical equip-ment, fatigue, and stress.' Published studiessuggest that commercial fishing is a high riskoccupation, with death rates well above mostother occupational groups.7-'2 Most of thesestudies are based on experience in the north-ern hemisphere. There have been no detailedstudies of traumatic injuries in commercialfishermen in Australia.

Australia has an exclusive fishing zone ofalmost 9 million km2.'3 For most of the lastdecade at any one time about 8000 to 12 000people were employed in fishing occupationsin Australia.'4 The main commerciallyexploited species are prawns, rock lobster,abalone, tuna, other fin fish, scallops, and oys-ters. '3 Fishing conditions in Australia includeshallow tropical seas subject to cyclones, inshore areas studded with reefs, and deep sea

fishing in the Tasman Sea and the Southern

Ocean, where cold temperatures and highseas are common. The aim of this paper is todescribe the types and circumstances of trau-matic work related fatalities among commer-cial fishermen in Australia.

Materials and methodsTraumatic fatalities related to commercialfishing were studied as part of a larger investi-gation of deaths attributable to work relatedinjury that occurred in Australia during thethree calendar years 1982, 1983, and 1984.The study method, which has been describedin detail elsewhere, is outlined.'5A list was obtained of all deaths that

occurred in the study period and that hadbeen assigned International Classification ofDiseases, revision 9 (ICD9) codes corre-sponding to external causes of death, exclud-ing only suicide and medical misadventure.The list contained 16 246 cases. Coroners'files were found for 15 462 (95 2%) of thesecases. Research officers examined the files andassessed which of the deaths met the studydefinitions of work related fatalities. Datawere extracted from the files for these cases,recorded in data forms, and subsequentlyentered into a database for analysis. Of the1738 cases that were classed as work related,1544 were deaths of persons in the employedcivilian labour force as defined by theAustralian Bureau of Statistics.'6 These deathscomprised 910 that occurred in the work-place, 368 that occurred on the road whileworking, and 266 that occurred on the roadduring journeys to and from work.The employed civilian labour force

included persons who worked for pay, profit,payment in kind, in a job, business, or on afarm (including employees, employers, andself employed people), and people whoworked for > 15h/week without pay in a familybusiness or on a farm. It was assembled, as faras possible, to correspond to the populationthat was covered by the Australian Bureau ofStatistics labour force survey,'6 and thusexcluded people who were aged <15 or whowere members of the armed forces. This defin-ition is very similar to that used for theemployed civilian labour force in the UnitedStates.'7 The denominator used was the meanof the 12 employed civilian labour force sur-veys undertaken during the three years of thestudy. The population of commercial fisher-men estimated from the surveys varied from9425 to 12 041 during the study period, with

612

on Novem

ber 17, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.

http://oem.bm

j.com/

Occup E

nviron Med: first published as 10.1136/oem

.51.9.612 on 1 Septem

ber 1994. Dow

nloaded from

Traumatic work related fatalities in commercialfishermen in Australia

annual means of 10 835 (1982), 10 920(1983), and 11 189 (1984).

Deaths related to fishing were defined as

those persons who had a fatal injury in thecourse of work and whose job at the time ofinjury involved fishing. This included persons

involved in fish hatcheries but not process

workers or distributors. Cases extracted fromthe main data set were those which, accordingto study codes, involved a person whose job atthe time of injury involved fishing (codes 334or 335 of "A classification and classified list ofoccupations").'8 Also, a computerised searchof the text describing the circumstances of thefatal injury for all subjects was made, withkeywords that suggested that the subject mayhave been involved in fishing at the time ofinjury-for example, drowned, water, fishing,trawler, etc. The complete btudy records ofthese cases were then inspected to make a

final determination on which cases satisfiedthe study definition. Forty seven subjectsformed the final data set.

Data were analysed with the SAS System,version 6 03.'9 Confidence intervals (CIs)were calculated with the Poisson distribu-tion,20 but they do not take into account thesample variance associated with the 12employed civilian labour force surveys. The

resultant CIs are therefore narrower than thetrue CIs.

Table 1 Work relatedfishingfatalities in the

employed civilian labourforce by age ofdecedent

Age Cy) Frequency C%)15-24 10 (21)25-34 16 (34)35-44 5 (1 1)45-54 8 (17)55-64 5 (1 1)65+ 3 (6)

Total 47 (100)

Results

There were 47 traumatic fatalities among per-

sons in the employed civilian labour forcewith fishing occupations in the three years

1982 to 1984. This represented an incidenceof 143/100 000 person-years (95% CI: 105-190). All but two of the decedents were male.The average age was 37 (SD 14-7), with 10 ofthe decedents <25 (table 1). The 47 fatalitiesarose from 38 incidents. There were nineinstances of multiple fatalities, although intwo of these the other deaths were not ofsomeone engaged in fishing as part of theirwork at the time (two passengers in one case;

one harbour master in the other). Of theremaining seven instances of multiple fatali-ties, two involved three deaths and fiveinvolved two deaths. Twenty of the fatal inci-dents (42%) had at least one survivor.Most decedents were working on trawlers

(prawn, deep sea, or cray) at the time of theirfatal incident, with over a third being trawlerdeckhands. Five decedents were tending lob-ster or crayfish pots (one working on a

trawler, one washed off rocks, and three insmall vessels, table 2).Two thirds of the subjects drowned or their

bodies were not recovered and they were pre-sumed to have drowned. Of the six subjectswho died from physical trauma, two had headinjuries (one struck by a falling pulley; one

struck by a falling dock crane); two becameentangled in equipment (one had clothingcaught in a compressor; one became caught ina winch) and two died in motor vehicle acci-dents (one picking up equipment; one com-

muting). Sharks were responsible for the

Table 2 Work relatedfishingfatalities in the employedcivilian labourforce by occupation at the time of injury

Occupation Frequency (%)

Trawlers:Captain 7 (15)Deckhand 19 (40)Engineer 3 (6)Cook 1 (2)

Small vessels:Fisherman* 4 (9)Cray fisherman 3 (9)Oyster farmer 3 (6)

Pearl or abalone diver 4 (9)Other 3 (4)

Total 47 (100)

*Includes one person on an inland lake.

deaths of at least two, and possibly three, sub-jects (table 3).Rough or bad weather was an important

contributory cause of 25 of the fatalities(including one of the motor vehicle acci-dents). In most of these cases the vessel cap-sised or sank with little or no warning,generally without time to adequately releaseflotation support equipment and often with-out time to send out a distress call. Threedecedents fell overboard and drowned, fivesubjects died while diving, and the remainderof the cases died in a variety of circumstances.These included five decedents whose fatalincident occurred on shore or when the vesselwas docked, and one who drowned on aninland lake during bad weather (table 4).

Lack of sea worthiness was an importantdirect contributory factor in the fatal incidentin five cases, with a further three deaths asso-ciated with a lack of sea worthiness in liferafts. Equipment failure (broken boom; bro-ken pulley; failed autopilot) was directly asso-ciated with the fatal incident in four cases. Infour other cases equipment failure may have

Table 3 Work relatedfishingfatalities in the employedcivilian labourforce by cause ofdeath

Cause Frequencv (%)

Drowned 17 (36)Presumed drowned 15 (32)Mechanical trauma 6 (13)Barotrauma 3 (6)Electrocution 2 (4)Shark attack 2 (4)Smoke inhalation 1 (2)Uncertain 1 (2)

Total 47 (99)*

*Percentages do not add up to 100 because of rounding.

Table 4 Work relatedfishingfatalities in the employedcivilian labourforce by circumstance of incident

Bad weather Good weather Total

Boat lost or disabled:Capsised or sunk 23 3 26Run onto rocks 1 2 3

Diving - 5 5Fell overboard - 3 3Maintenance - 2 2Hauling in nets - 2 2Motor vehicle accident 1 1 2Other - 4 4

Total 25 22 47

613

on Novem

ber 17, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.

http://oem.bm

j.com/

Occup E

nviron Med: first published as 10.1136/oem

.51.9.612 on 1 Septem

ber 1994. Dow

nloaded from

Driscoll, Ansari, Harrison, Frommer, Ruck

Table S Work relatedfishingfatalities: comparison of resuisfrom differentcountnes

County Australia* Alaskat Canad4 Icedans New Zealand UKI IPeriod (calendar years) 82-84 91-92 75-83 66-86 75-84 61-80

No 47 70 98 132 75 711Incidence of fatality (/100 000 person-years) 143 200 53 89 260 170Drowning (%) 68 94 93** 85 90 68**On shore deaths() 13 0 12 Ott 6 OttDue to bad weather() 53 61Due to loss or disablement (%) 62 77 ? ? 78 71Washed overboard (%) 6 23 13 34#

*Current study.tMMWR, 199312: denominator based on vessel landings and associated crew size.fHasselback and Neutel, 19908: denominator based on time from first registration for persons with a commercial fishing licence.§Rafnsson and Gunnarsdottir, 1992"0: denominator based on persons registered in seamen's pension fund.INorrish and Cryer, 19909: denominator estimated with data from national censuses.Reilly, 19857: denominator based on number of registered fishermen.

*Estimated from paper.ttOn shore deaths excluded.tData only available for deep sea deaths.

contributed to the fatal incident. Of theremaining 31 cases, the vessel was known tobe sea worthy in 12 cases and there was norecorded equipment failure in the other 19.Three deaths from the one incident occurredwhen a trawler, heavily overloaded with fish,capsised in rough weather.

In 14 cases the use of flotation supportequipment (life jackets or life rafts) would nothave contributed to the subject surviving thefatal incident. The other 33 cases drowned orwere taken by sharks. Of these subjects 25(some of whom were poor swimmers) werenot wearing any flotation device, three had lifejackets on at least some of the time but stilleventually drowned, and in five cases the bodywas not recovered and there was no informa-tion on flotation devices. The circumstancesof six of these deaths suggest that there wasprobably ample time to put on a life jacketbetween when the vessel began to sink andwhen the subject entered the water, but thejackets were either not available (three) orpossibly available but not used (three). Inmost cases, however, there would not havebeen adequate warning, apart from roughweather, to enable a life jacket to be put ononce the vessel began to founder.The number of years working in the job in

which the decedent was working at the time ofdeath was known for only 22 of the cases. Ofthese, eight (36%) had worked in the job for<1 year and 15 (68%) for <3 years. In five ofthe deaths lack of experience was directlyimplicated by the coronial investigation asbeing a main cause of the fatality.

DiscussionThe incidence of fatalities of 143/100 000person-years for persons working in fishingoccupations is one of the highest of any occu-pation in Australia. It compares with inci-dences (/100 000 person-years) of 8-1 for thewhole employed civilian labour force, 70 formining and quarrying, and 19 for agricul-ture.'52' The main overseas studies of com-mercial fishing traumatic fatalities are fromAlaska,'2 Canada,8 Iceland,'0 New Zealand,9and the United Kingdom.7 Several other stud-ies investigating or reviewing fatalities orinjuries have also been published.2 22-24Comparisons between these studies and ours

should be made with reservations because thestudies had slightly different inclusion criteriafor the numerator and the denominator. Suchcomparisons serve to highlight the hazardsand risks that Australian commercial fisher-men have, and do not have, in common withother countries (table 5).As in most other studies of fishing fatalities,

the primary cause of death was drowning. Inthis study 32% of decedents died from othercauses, including contact with electricity, analmost ubiquitous workplace hazard.25 Theproportion of deaths due to drowning washigher in Alaska, Canada, and Iceland, andsimilar in the United Kingdom and NewZealand. The extent of inclusion of on shoredeaths obviously affects these figures. In thisstudy 13% of the deaths occurred on shore orwhile the vessel was docked. The other stud-ies where on shore deaths were included hadsimilar or smaller proportions of on shoredeaths. Whether to include motor vehicleaccidents in a study of commercial fishingfatalities is a matter for debate. They wereincluded in this study because one accidentoccurred specifically as part of the decedent'sduties as a deckhand, and the other occurredwhile the decedent was returning home fromwork and therefore was still covered by work-ers' compensation according to Australian lawthen in force.Bad weather was the primary cause of the

fatal event in 53% of cases, compared with61% in New Zealand9 and an unknown pro-portion of cases in other studies. Vessel loss ordisablement, either due to sinking, capsising,or collision with rocks, resulted in 29 (62%)deaths in this study. Although this was themain cause of fatal events, 47% of cases werenot associated with bad weather conditions,indicating that there are other important haz-ards faced by fishermen.The 26% of deaths directly attributable to

lack of sea worthiness or equipment failurehighlights the need for vigilance in maintain-ing vessels, general equipment and safetyapparatus. The lack ofuse of flotation supportapparatus in the fatal incidents was consider-able. Use of personal flotation devices hasbeen associated with increased likelihood ofsurvival in fatal incidents that have at leastone survivor.'2 There was insufficient infor-mation available in this study to properly

614

on Novem

ber 17, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.

http://oem.bm

j.com/

Occup E

nviron Med: first published as 10.1136/oem

.51.9.612 on 1 Septem

ber 1994. Dow

nloaded from

Traumatic work relatedfatalities in commercialfishermen in Australia

investigate this association. In the 42% of fatalincidents in this study that had at least onesurvivor, those persons who did survive seemto have done so because they were able toobtain some form of flotation support in theform of life rafts, life jackets, or debris. Onlythree people who died in circumstances inwhich personal flotation devices would havebeen of help wore a life jacket at some stageduring the fatal event. These results suggestthat after vessel loss or disablement, even inisolated areas of deep water, survival is possibleand would be enhanced by the use of personalflotation devices. Unfortunately, the vesselloss or disablement happened so rapidly inmost of the incidents in this study that therewould have been very little time to put on alife jacket or launch a life raft once it becameclear that the vessel was at grave risk. Roughweather was therefore the only early warningof increased risk in these cases. Regular use oflife jackets in bad weather is complicated bythe fact that most life jackets as currentlydesigned may interfere with efficient on boardwork and may place the worker at greater riskof on board injury.26 Nevertheless, about halfthe people in this study died because, in partat least, they entered the water without ade-quate flotation support. It is therefore impor-tant to have flotation devices placed near workstations-for example, the wheel house-forready access in an emergency, and to encour-age use of the newer inflatable life jackets,which may be suitable for use during normalwork when worn while uninflated.

Water temperature and type of clothingworn are other important factors in incidentsurvival after entering the water. The typicalcold weather clothing of long tunic and thighlength boots was identified as a main contribu-tory factor to three of the deaths by drowning.The negative buoyancy of such clothing hasbeen identified before.27 The need for thermalprotection has been identified in northernhemisphere studies. 12 In Australia this is lessof a problem in the warmer northern fishingareas, but is very important in the southerndeep sea fishing areas. The lower proportionof deaths from falling overboard in Australia(and to a lesser extent in New Zealand) com-pared with the northern hemisphere studies isprobably a reflection of the warmer watertemperatures around much of the Australiancoastline, allowing survival in the water for alonger period before the onset of profoundhypothermia. Hypothermia probably con-tributed to a small proportion of deaths in thisstudy, but available information did not allow aprecise determination of the role of hypother-mia in all cases. The need for the develop-ment of flexible, durable, and buoyantclothing, and personal flotation devices thatcan be worn for prolonged periods of badweather and that have only minimal interfer-ence with working activities, has been notedin other studies.'712 The findings from thisstudy suggest that this remains a priority.

Inexperience was a feature of a consider-able number of the decedents. Many fisher-men, especially those working on trawlers,

change job frequently.4 Precise informationon job experience in the fishing workforce wasnot available, making it difficult to adequatelydetermine the contribution of lack of experi-ence to risk of fatal injury. Eleven percent ofthe deaths (including two of the five divingdeaths) were directly linked to lack of experi-ence. With no formal training required inwhat remains an essentially heavy, labourintensive, high risk occupation, inexperiencemust remain a major concern. Currently,training generally takes the form of on the jobexperience. Most formal instruction is con-ducted by the Fishing Industry TrainingCouncils, but this tends to concentrate ontechnical training rather than on health andsafety aspects.

Changes in technology in the fishing indus-try over the last decade may be expected tohave decreased the risk to fishermen.Alternatively, there may be areas of increasedrisk. This is because some technology (such asglobal positioning equipment and autopilot)reduces hands on requirements, which pre-sumably can lead to decreased vigilance, andalso allows more movement at night, possiblyincreasing the risks of collision. Studies in thenorthern hemisphere have found no improve-ment in incidence of fatalities despite effortsaimed at improving safety.710 More recentAustralian data would provide a useful com-parison to the data in this study.One of the main shortcomings identified in

some other studies of commercial fishermenhas been incomplete case ascertainment7 8 anduncertainty regarding denominators.7-10 12 Thecoronial system in Australia covers all trau-matic or unusual deaths and the overall studyidentified 95% of the initial coronial files to besearched. Of the 784 missing cases, 399(51%) were elderly people who died as aresult of a fall, the circumstances of which didnot warrant a coronial inquest. The remaining385 cases (2-4% of the total) were missing fora variety of reasons (in use by courts; lost;could not be found) not likely to be specifi-cally associated with work related deaths ingeneral nor fishing in particular. Given thatthere were 47 cases of work related deaths infishermen found from inspection of 15 462files (03%), there is likely to be no more thanone further such case in the missing 385 files.This, combined with the comprehensive filesearch procedures, should have ensured thatvirtually all relevant deaths were identified forthis study. As the case file data were extractedfor a study of all work related traumatic fatali-ties, information was not collected specificallyto investigate all factors relevant to fishingfatalities. Nevertheless, detailed informationwas available for most cases. Denominatorswere obtained from labour force surveys con-ducted during the same period as the numera-tor data were obtained. The low numbersemployed in the fishing occupations in thelabour force necessarily introduces a degree oferror into the denominator, as the data wereobtained with a sampling procedure. Datafrom the 1981 or 1986 national censuses werenot thought to be appropriate because they

615

on Novem

ber 17, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.

http://oem.bm

j.com/

Occup E

nviron Med: first published as 10.1136/oem

.51.9.612 on 1 Septem

ber 1994. Dow

nloaded from

Driscoll, Ansari, Hanison, Frommer, Ruck

represent a single data collection period inwinter, and therefore miss many of the sum-mer seasonal workers and probably some ofthose away at sea on the day of collection.Rates calculated with census data in thedenominator would therefore be expected tobe artificially high.The data in this study were insufficient to

allow detailed investigation of factors such asthe length of time the vessel had been at sea,the size of the crew, the experience of crewmembers, the contribution of safety equip-ment to subject survival, the type of clothingbeing worn at the time of the incident, and therole of hypothermia. Further studies consider-ing these areas would be of use, and collectionof such information by investigating authori-ties should be encouraged.

This study is the first detailed study of workrelated traumatic fatalities in commercial fish-ermen in Australia and has shown fishing tobe a high risk occupation in this country, as itis in many others. Efforts directed towardsvessel and equipment maintenance and train-ing of inexperienced workers; more wide-spread use of and easy access to personalflotation devices; and development ofimproved work clothing and personal flotationdevices are likely to improve the safety ofcommercial fishermen.

We wish to thank Mr Frank Prokop for his helpful commentsand suggestions regarding the manuscript.The views expressed in this article are those of the authors

and do not necessarily reflect those of the NationalOccupational Health and Safety Commission.

1 Holland Martin D. Trawler safety-final report of the com-mittee of inquiry into trawler safety. London: HMSO,1969.

2 Schilling RSF. Hazards of deep-sea fishing. Br J Ind Med1971;28:27-35.

3 Barss PG. Penetrating wounds caused by needle-fish inOceania. MedJAust 1985;143:617-22.

4 Jeays LW. Safety for fisherman on trawlers. Sydney:National Occupational Health and Safety Commission,1987.

5 Dutkiewicz J, Jablonski L, Olenchock SA. Occupationalbiohazards: a review. AmJ'Ind Med 1988;14:605-23.

6 Sutherland KM, Flin RH. Stress at sea: a review ofworkingconditions in the offshore oil and fishing industries.Work and Stress 1989;3:269-85.

7 Reilly MSJ. Mortality from occupational accidents toUnited Kingdom fishermen 1961-80. Br J Ind Med1985;42:806-14.

8 Hasselback P, Neutel CI. Risk for commercial fishingdeaths in Canadian Atlantic provinces. Br Y Ind Med1990;47:498-501.

9 Norrish AE, Cryer PC. Work-related injury in NewZealand commercial fishermen. Br J Ind Med 1990;47:726-32.

10 Rafnsson V, Gunnarsdottir H. Fatal accidents amongIcelandic seamen: 1966-86. Br J Ind Med 1992;49:694-9.

11 Schnitzer PG, Bender TR Surveillance of traumatic occu-pational fatalities in Alaska-implications for prevention.Public Health Rep 1992;107:70-4.

12 Commercial fishing fatalities-Alaska, 1991-1992.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1993;42:350-1,357-9.

13 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Yearbook Australia1994. Canberra: ABS, 1993. (Catalogue No 1301-0.)

14 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The labour force,Australia: 1978 to 1989 Canberra: ABS, 1992.(Catalogue no 6204 0.)

15 Harrison JE, Frommer MS, Ruck EA, Blyth FM. Death asa result of work-related injury in Australia, 1982-1984.MedJAust 1989;150:118-25.

16 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). A guide to labourstatistics. Canberra: ABS, 1986. (Catalogue no 6102 0.)

17 United States Bureau of the Census (USBC). Statisticalabstracts of the US, 11th ed. Washington DC: USBC,1991.

18 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). A classification andclassified list of occupations. Canberra: ABS, 1981. (Cata-logue no 1206-0.)

19 SAS Institute. SAS System, version 6-03. Cary, NC: SASInstitute, 1987.

20 Armitage P, Berry G. Statistical methods in medical research,2nd ed. Trowbridge: Blackwell Sci Publ, 1988.

21 Erlich SM, Driscoll TR, Harrison JE, Frommer MS, LeighJ. Work-related agricultural fatalities in Australia,1982-1984. Scand Y Work Environ Health 1993;19:162-7.

22 Cadenhead R McN. Hospital admissions of fishermenfrom the fishing grounds around the Shetland Islands.Journal of the Society of Occupational Medicine 1976;26:127-31.

23 Cross T. The health of British trawlermen on the Arcticfishing grounds. Journal of the Society of OccupationalMedicine 1985;35:55-61.

24 Moore SRW. The mortality and morbidity of deep seafishermen sailing from Grimsby in one year. Br J IndMed 1969;26:25-46.

25 Harvey-Sutton PL, Driscoll TR, Frommer MS, HarrisonJE. Work-related electrical fatalities in Australia,1982-1984. Scand J Work Environ Health 1992;18:293-7.

26 Coast Guard, US Department of Transportation.Commercial fishing industry vessel regulations: finalrule. Federal Register 1991;56:40367-8. Cited in:Commercial fishing fatalities-Alaska, 1991-1992.MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 1993;42:350-1, 357_9.,2

27 Crockford GW. Buoyancy suits for fishermen.Occupational Health 1973;25:288-95.

616

on Novem

ber 17, 2020 by guest. Protected by copyright.

http://oem.bm

j.com/

Occup E

nviron Med: first published as 10.1136/oem

.51.9.612 on 1 Septem

ber 1994. Dow

nloaded from