Measured in terms of the number of employees, fishermen are the occupational group most exposed to occupational accidents and fatalities. In the period 2011–2021, 107 people died and 2,714 were injured at sea. 62 of the dead were seamen on fishing vessels, 35 on cargo ships and 10 on passenger ships. The last person to die on a Norwegian boat was Latvian Roman Solovjovs. He was dragged overboard when he set out seines in the snow crab fishery in the Barents Sea. Is enough being done to prevent accidents and deaths at sea? The Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s responsibility The National Audit Office, which is the Storting’s control body, believes that this has not been sufficient. A new investigation shows that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s inspections are not good enough at uncovering poor working and living conditions at sea. Human factors are reported as the direct cause of 55 percent of accidents involving commercial vessels. – It is important that the directorate’s supervision catches conditions that may be behind the accident figures, says Auditor General Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen. Auditor General Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen presented the results of the survey. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB The Norwegian Maritime Directorate is responsible for ensuring that business operators comply with the requirements for maritime safety, and ensure good working and living conditions on board at sea. Because it can help to avoid accidents and other incidents. According to the National Audit Office, the directorate’s supervision is characterized by control of documents, and to a small extent by the actual conditions. – Challenges related to working and living conditions are to a limited extent expressed through documents. The practice means that those who most often find symptoms of bad conditions through the inspections, says Schjøtt-Pedersen. In the survey, 24 per cent of those questioned say that they do not feel that the staffing on board is sufficient to ensure safety. 23 percent respond that they do not get sufficient sleep and rest on board. And 31 percent feel pressured to continue their work, even if their safety is threatened. The National Audit Office highlights two clear points after the investigation: The Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s inspection activities are not sufficiently adapted to uncover the challenges with seafarers’ working and living conditions. The Ministry of Trade and Fisheries has not sufficiently followed up on the expectations it has set for the Directorate to promote good working and living conditions in order to prevent accidents at sea. Too few unannounced inspections The Ministry of Trade and Fisheries has expressed that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate must concentrate its inspections on vessels and areas with the highest risk and greatest potential to reduce accidents. One way the Directorate does this is through unannounced inspections. But this is done to a lesser extent, according to the National Audit Office’s investigation. The proportion has been between three and eleven percent. In 2022, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate carried out 259 unannounced inspections. There are significantly fewer than in the years before the pandemic, according to the audit. – The Norwegian Maritime Directorate has an extensive supervisory mission. Nevertheless, we believe that they do not carry out risk-based supervision to a sufficient extent. The directorate should continue to work actively on developing the means they have to promote good working and living conditions at sea, says Auditor General Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen. These are the conclusions: The increase in the number of accidents at sea places higher demands on the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s work with measures Human factors play a major role in the causation of accidents and are affected to a significant extent by working and living conditions Insufficient rest, insufficient staffing and work pressure among seafarers affect safety negative The Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s inspection system is not sufficiently adapted to uncover seafarers’ poor working and living conditions The Norwegian Maritime Directorate works preventively through guidance and dialogue with the industry The Ministry of Trade and Fisheries has set expectations for the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s work with seafarers’ working and living conditions, but these have not been sufficiently followed up Want to find causes of accidents The National Audit Office recommends that the Norwegian Directorate of Trade and Fisheries ensure that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate develops the way they carry out inspections, in order to be able to uncover challenges in seafarers’ working and living conditions. They also recommend investigating the underlying causes of accidents and near misses to a greater extent, and work to ensure that the industry improves the reporting of this. In addition, the audit recommends that the ministry follow up the negative development in accidents in this industry. Information manager at Fishing Boat, Odd Kristian Dahle. Photo: Remi Sagen Interest – and the employers’ organization for the Norwegian ocean-going fishing fleet, Fiskebåt, are positive that the National Audit Office has gone through the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s supervision and routines. – We are very concerned about it being safe and sound to work at sea. We have zero vision for serious accidents and deaths, says information manager Odd Kristian Dahle. He says that they are therefore concerned with a control system and regulations that work, and which make it safe to work at sea. – We see that fishing vessels are not the worst here, but any serious accident is one too many, says Dahle. – Then it will now be up to the Norwegian Maritime Directorate to implement this as best as possible. Everyone has a common goal, to reduce the danger and reduce the number of accidents, says the information manager. Has taken several measures After the accident with Roman in the Barents Sea, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate stated that they had seen an unfortunate development. – Unfortunately, we see that there are far too many who are unable to maintain the level of safety that is expected of them. The shipping companies have a job to do there, because the responsibility lies with them, said Alf Tore Sørheim, department director for operational supervision. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that the directorate also has a responsibility here, and they have notified several inspections. In addition, the research institute Sintef has started a project together with the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries and the fishermen’s organizations to find measures to reduce serious accidents and deaths in the fishing fleet. Here are some of the measures they have outlined: The fisheries management affects the fishermen’s working conditions The free fishing within a total quota leads to fierce competition between the boats to get the largest possible share of the total quota before fishing is closed. Sintef therefore believes that it is an important measure for safety to map the interaction between management and the working environment from the fishermen’s point of view, and ensure that the regulation ensures the safe practice of the profession. Education and training of new and experienced fishermen must be strengthened According to Sintef, inadequate training is a consistent cause of personal accidents on boats. Therefore, they believe that training of new and experienced fishermen must never stop, but that they must practice what to do in the event of an accident. They also point out that a common working language is crucial for them to be able to share this experience with each other. Safety must be built into new fishing technology Fishermen work under demanding conditions on a moving surface. But the fishermen’s safety and health have not been a driver for technological development in the industry. That is Sintef’s opinion that they should be. Examples they give are creating physical obstacles so that the fishermen cannot be pulled into moving machinery or over the railing. They believe that new technology can also help to find solutions for emergency stop of the engine and automatic notification if someone falls into the sea.
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The National Audit Office believes that the Norwegian Maritime Directorate must do better at controlling working conditions at sea – news Troms and Finnmark
