Northern Ireland Fishermen s Safety Forum meeting

Transcription

1 Northern Ireland Fishermen s Safety Forum meeting Attendees Ian Humes (IH) Kevin Quigley (KQ) Mark McCaughan (MMcC) Jim Hyam (JH) Lynn Gilmore (LG) Paul Leeman (PL) Norman Bridges (NB) David Polley (DP) Ian Kelly (IK) Colin Nelson (CN) Suzanne Young (SY) Juanita Emerson (JE) Leslie Coffey (LC) Frankie Horne (FH) Jac Dendle (JD) DAERA NIFHA DAERA Seafish Seafish NI Scallop Association SFITA Trainer/ MCA MCA NIFPO NELCO SFITA SFITA Fisherman RNLI RNLI Apologies: Alan McCulla and Davey Hill (Sea Source/ ANIFPO), Sean Friday (MAIB), Keith Patterson (MCA). 1. Welcome and introductions LG welcomed everyone and round table introductions. 2. Membership and other potential members DP commented that it would be good to get John Morton and Davy Galbraith (NCLFA) involved and MMcC suggested including Pat Close from Lough Neagh eels and the mussel industry by inviting C- Bait. Action: LG to invite other representatives.

2 3. Electing a Chair and Secretariat to the group Paul Leeman appointed temporary Chair, Seafish NI appointed as Secretariat. 4. Terms of Reference (ToR) of the group, name, frequency of meetings ToR accepted, DP proposed the name should be Northern Ireland Fishermen s Safety Forum to reflect that the group will be led by industry and supported by other agencies and this was accepted. The group will meet twice a year or as required. KQ asked that 6 weeks notice of meetings should be given. 5. RNLI Casualty data for NI and what can be learned from this FH presented casualty data and information about the cold water exercise in Poole. JD (psychology and behaviour change expert from the RNLI) presented how they can support improving fishing safety by encouraging behaviour change. 6. MAIB update FH presented MAIB statistics in the RNLI casualty data and gave apologies from Sean Friday (MAIB). He said MAIB are supportive of the group and will attend future meetings. 7. MCA update DP - MOB prevention campaign from 1 st January Every fishing vessel will have a safety discussion on prevention and recovery during inspections. MOB drills carried out using a dummy. On larger vessels the physical recovery of the dummy was difficult due to high freeboard. He said that a Fishing vessel safety team is to be set up in MCA HQ. Action: DP to send information on MOB inspections to LG for circulation around the NIFSF. 8. Seafish safety and training update JH updated on Seafish safety training.

3 He said that EMFF opportunities include 325 places over next 18 months- 150 places for refresher training also navigation, stability, safety awareness can be funded. An additional 40k available for new entrant training- 2 courses in NI. JH offered further PFDs to NI and JA commented that there are some already on order. DP asked if there was funding for servicing of PFDs? No, not available but there are local servicing centres. LG commented that Seafish are planning a series of safety roadshows and that these will be delivered in partnership with the NIFSF. Action: Seafish to advertise new entrant training in the local job centres and to work with RNLI and the NIFSF to deliver safety roadshows. 9. SFITA/ ANIFPO training update JA updated the group on training delivered by SFITA during She said that a total of 44 courses had been run and training delivered to 411 fishermen. SFITA has ongoing issues with fishermen not turning up for courses. Would like support from POs, MCA and NIFSF to improve attendance. Action: MCA to send Improvement Notices to SFITA when fishermen who haven t completed their training are identified during inspections subject to approval from MCA on data protection laws. MMcC asked about migrant workers and their training certificates. JA commented that Ghanians and Phillipinos come with good and recognised qualifications. More issues with Eastern European recruits who are not trained. IK said that this is because workers from 3 rd Countries come intending to work in the fishing industry and European workers tend to come to the industry looking for a job with no skills. JA commented that SFITA are working to bring back training that has not been carried out in a long time eg. forklift, ladder, net mending courses etc. 10. NIFHA Safety update KQ said that there is still a poor record of accidents in harbours with life changing injuries and a death occurring in the period reported by the RNLI in their casualty data. KQ appealed for better safety in harbours and for the NIFSF to work on this. He said that these incidents were not reflected in the RNLI data as they come under the remit of the HSE. He said that things are improving- pontoons in Portavogie, communicating with fishermen to improve harbour practice but there is still a long way to go. Action: KQ to share statistics on accidents/ deaths in harbours.

4 11. DAERA EMFF opportunities IH commented that DARD/DAERA have always been willing to support fishing safety projects and have previously provided grant aid for a range of initiatives including equipment, harbours and training. He said that they key issue is getting recipients of grant-aid to change behaviour- it s not good enough people not turning up for training, or not using grant-aided equipment. He said that DAERA will continue to support eligible safety initiatives but behavioural change is necessary. A discussion on the use of VMS systems for MOB incidents, a review of the baseline training situation, fishermen s passports, an NI training register and refresher training was held. 12. Priorities in improving fishing safety group discussion FH said that now the NIFSF has been established, information on all RNLI fishing safety initiatives in NI will be cascaded to group members via the Secretariat. MMcC commented that following the incident with the Karen, DAERA met submarine command. At that stage there was no forum to feedback lessons to industry and in future NIFSF will provide this. LG commented that it was very useful to see the RNLI work on behavioural change and said that future projects should consider how safety projects and initiatives will ensure behavioural change. 13. Any other business IK commented that two new pieces of legislation- ILO88 and STCW-F will have implications for all fishing vessels (through medicals and contracts of employment) although mostly applicable to >24m vessels. LG asked the group whether they felt the meeting was useful and wanted to carry on the NIFSF. The group were unanimous in their support. The industry will be encouraged to attend through notices of meetings in POs, and information on the Seafish website. A suggestion was made to have an annual Fishing safety week to focus on safety. 14. Date of next meeting Members suggested the next meeting of the NIFSF should be held in September Action: LG to circulate dates 6 weeks before the event. There being no other business the Chair thanked members for attending and closed the meeting at 12.40pm.

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