FATAL ACCIDENT TO A FISH FARM WORKER

Summary:

At about 1510 on 18 February 2020, the Ardintoul fish farm assistant manager, Clive Hendry, drowned after falling into the water from a feed barge access ladder during a boat transfer. He stepped from the deck onto the ladder while Beinn Na Caillich was still moving forward and was crushed between the boat and the barge. A fish farm technician on board the barge attempted to stop the injured assistant manager from falling in to the water by holding onto the back of his personal flotation device and oilskin jacket, but the severely injured casualty slipped out of them. Despite the assistant manager being recovered from the water and the determined efforts of the fish farm workers, emergency services, and medical staff, the assistant manager could not be resuscitated.

The investigation concluded that the conduct of the boat transfer had not been properly planned or briefed and was not adequately supervised or controlled.

The key safety issues identified were:

• The transfer of personnel by workboat had not been properly risk assessed, and safe systems of work had not been put in place.
• The crew on board Beinn Na Caillich were not fully prepared to deal with the emergency situation. They had not conducted regular man overboard recovery drills and were not familiar with the vessel’s recovery equipment.
• The workboat and fish farm owner, Mowi (Scotland) Ltd, did not have an effective marine safety management system and lacked staff with the experience to oversee its marine operations.

Safety recommendations:

Recommendations have been made to Mowi (Scotland) Ltd to apply the standards set out in the Workboat Code Edition 2 to all its existing workboats and, specifically, to fully implement a safety management system across its fleet, as well as ensuring that it has appropriate marine expertise to oversee its marine operations.