AUSTRALIAN FISHERS TAKE ACTION TO IMPROVE SAFETY

Australian fishers take action to improve safety. In a joint Australian industry and government initiative, the more than 11,000 men and women who work in Australia’s commercial fishing and aquaculture sectors, can participate in a new industry-led safety program, SeSafe.

The SeSafe project, sesafe.com.au, is designed to raise awareness and improve safety for Australia’s commercial fishers and aquaculturalists. At the heart of the programme is a reminder to always ask themselves, “What if you don’t come home?”.

As part of the launch, in conjunction with Seafood Industry Australia (SIA), SeSafe have launched a raw, emotive and honest clip featuring five Australian fishers who share their harrowing stories of survival, or open-up about the loss of a mate.

“SeSafe commenced earlier this year with the primary goal of raising awareness of, and improving the practice of safety, within the wild-caught and aquaculture sectors, Australia wide,” SeSafe Director Steve Eayrs said.

“The unique nature of this programme is that it has been developed by industry, for industry.”

“SeSafe is a great example of industry and the federal government working together to address the critical issue of safety,” SIA CEO Jane Lovell said

“Safety is one of SIA, and the entire commercial fishing industries, top priorities and these sorts of initiatives are vital to keeping our fishers safe at sea. No matter the industry, everyone deserves to be safe at work and every family deserves their loved-ones to come home unharmed.”

“SeSafe provides an avenue to improve workplace safety through online, pre-sea training module,” Mr Eayrs said.

“The existing programmes focus on emergency procedures such as abandoning ship and man-overboard. SeSafe complements this training through personal, boat and fishing safety. The SeSafe modules have been designed as complementary to the existing training and are already being used enthusiastically by industry.”