Crush incident while shooting fishing gear on scallop dredger Philomena with loss of 1 life

Location: Moray Forth, Scotland.

From:
Marine Accident Investigation Branch
Published
23 January 2015
Vessel type:
Fishing vessel
Report type:
Investigation report
Date of occurrence:
6 March 2001

Accident Investigation Report 34/2001

Read our marine accident investigation report, which includes what happened, actions taken and subsequent recommendations:

philomena.pdf (271.80 kb)

Summary

On 6 March 2001, Philomena, a scallop dredger fishing in the Moray Firth in moderate to rough seas, was shooting her fishing gear when she rolled to starboard and her port towing bar swung inboard and struck a deckhand on the head. He was seriously injured and, despite efforts by the crew and rescue services to save him, he subsequently died.

Safety Issues

  • the victims lack of familiarity with the vessels equipment and procedures
  • the lack of a risk assessment for the shooting and hauling procedures.
  • the skippers inability to monitor, from his control position, the actions of all deckhands

Recommendations

Recommendations have been made to the owner aimed at improving the safety of personnel

This report was published in 2001.

Published 23 January 2015