Great efforts have been made by all to produce meaningful, practical projects and help develop wearable floatation equipment in conjunction with fishermen and the manufacturers of floatation equipment,, according to RNLI fishing safety manager Frankie Horne.
He said that this has led to some real improvements in Personal Floatation Device (PFD) products.
‘As the saying goes, Useless Unless Worn, and it’s so true. We can talk about how things were done in the past, but as they say, the past is where things were done differently. Unfortunately, this attitude is why we keep seeing preventable fatalities in the fishing industry. In fact, some of the most vulnerable fishing activities have the worst PFD wear rate,’ he said.
‘Why is it that most fishermen do not use them? We all know we should. Having been in and around the fishing industry all my life I must have heard all the reasons and excuses known to man (probably used some myself) and at one time they probably had a value – but not now. There are literally hundreds of fatality reports telling us that these things work. We have evidence to prove this. However, sometimes as fishermen we need more than that to convince us.’
He said that the RNLI is running a funded project – and the only cost involved is time.
‘We’re providing the chance to test yourself and your crew, to physically understand the value of a PFD should you or your crewman go overboard and to practice Man Overboard Recovery (MOB),’ Frankie Horne said.
‘We have delivered this event to hundreds of fishermen, and they all agree that it really brings it home how valuable the PFD is and how difficult it is to stay afloat without one.’
He commented that accidental immersion is the key problem, when things happen so fast there’s no time to think about what to do.
‘The PFD makes that decision for you, it keeps you afloat so you can call for help. That gives time for others to rescue and recover. The comments we hear from fishermen are I can’t believe how quick it hits you and Capable people become incapable very quickly in cold water.
RNLI Fishing Safety will be present (Stand D24) at this year’s Scottish Skipper Expo in Aberdeen, where they’re keen to discuss safety issues and share advice – and there’s also the opportunity to win a prize.
