1. Annbjørg á Høvdanum1, Olaf Jensen2, Ellintur M. Abrahamsen 3 ..
Conference August 2016, Klaksvík
Analysis of injuries to fisheries workers
in the Faroe Islands
Fisheries work is one of the occupations at highest risk for occupational accidents, in many countries. It is nessicary to understand the injuries in order to prevent them. This study of occupational injury claims of fishermen workers in Faroe Islands in the period Analysed on Age, time of injury, Month of year, Type of injury, part of body, injury mechanism, place onboard, place of ship
Annbjørg á Høvdanum1,
Olaf Jensen2, Ellintur M. Abrahamsen 3 ..
1) Department for Occupational Medicine and Public Health, The Faroe Islands Health System, University of the Faroe Islands,
2) Centre of Maritime Health & Society, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark
3) Vørn, Captain of Tjaldrið, Guarding and Rescuing ship in Faroe Islands

2. Faroe fishing fleet facts and catch
The fishing industry has been the main source of income for the faroese people and has kept them alive for ages.
With time, the fleet has become moderised and more effective.
Since 1994 all faroese fishermen have been signed one for every trip they have done, in 1996 they got the kvotas and in they started register all fishing days.
In the period of , accidents were rapported to the faroese work accident insurance counsil, where of (33%) had happened at sea. Of these (27%) were from the fishing fleet and only 5% from the merchant fleet. innmeldaðar frá fiskivinnuni.
Grund data om fiskeri på færøerne
Belys hvordan industrien har forændret sig

3. Number of full-time fishermen
Grund data om fiskeri på færøerne

4. Vannlukkur yvir ár

5. Endamál
At greina vanlukku upplýsingarnar um fiskimenn, innan tíðarskeiði
At lýsa vanlukku týttleikar og mynstur seinastu 20 árini
At samanber vandastøður í ymisku løgum: starvsheitir, veiðiháttur og aldur
At vísa á høvuðs vandastøðurnar og vanlukkurnar
At umrøða fyribyrgingar møguleikar…
At vísa á afturvendandi orsøkir til vanlukkurnar
Vísa á títtleikan av ymiskum vanlukkum innan ymiskar skipabólkar
Vísa á sermerktar vandastøður innan ávísu skipabólkarnar

6. Objectives to analyse the injury data for 1972-2014
to describe the injury rate trends
To compare the risk in different strata: job, vessel type ..
to point out the main characteristics of the injuries
to discuss some possible prevention ...

7. Methods Data from the insurance 4280 paper forms
Data entered in Excel manually
Variables recoded
Analyses in SPSS data program
Number of days at sea available
#injuries
Incidence rate = ___________ #days at sea
Vit hava samla 42 árgangir av vanlukkum hjá sjómonnum, frá savninum hjá vanlukkutryggingarráðnum. Framferðin var tann, at vit fóru ígjógnum allar árgangirnar, mappu fyri mappu, og sorteraðu tær frá, sum ikki høvdu við sjógvin at gera. Saknummar og ár bleiv niðurskriva, men ikki navn. Síðani savnaðu vit upplýsingar um skaðarnar, t.d. nær hann hendi, dato, klokku og veður, tá upplýst, og hvat sjálvur skaðin var, hvar umborð, skipanavn, umframt grad av meini.

8. Number of days at sea for the main job categories 1994–2014

9. Number of days at sea for the types of fishing vessels 1994–2014

10. Inclusion criteria for injury
Ship part of the faroese fishing fleet
Physical injury
Material injury (teeth or glasses)
327 av 1550 ´fiskivinnusakunum í tíðarskeiðinum ímillum eru brillu erstatningar og 9 eru handilstenn erstatningar, sum ikki er hent orsaka av vanlukku. T.d. Hostaði, og misti tennirnar fyri borð.
Sjúka er sortera frá. Fólk sum t.d. Eru deyð av heilabløðingi ella blóðproppi, og annað ikki er lýst. T.d. Kann ein heilabløðingur koma av, at ein hevur sligið seg í, og í fall ein kann knýta hendingina saman við heilabløðingini, so skal hon við, men um ikki, so er hon sortera frá. So kann man kanska siga, at í veruleikanum, so eru kanska nakrir av frásorteraðu skaðunum, faktisk orsaka av eini týlíkari hending, men eingin hevur hugsa um at knýtt tað saman, ella persónurin sjálvur, ikki hevur sagt frá, og skuldi tað verið, so kann væntast at verða eitt sindur av óvissu í tølunum.

11. Age distribution of injured fishermen

12. Incidence per 100.000 man-days at sea

13. Notified accidents per 10.000 persons/year
Her síggja vit, at samanumtikið, so hava vit eina pena lækking í talinum av vanlukkum yvir tey síðstu 20 árini

14. Rate of injuries for types of vessels and jobtypes
#injuries for the specific jobs
Incidence rate = ___________
#days at sea for the specific jobs
These calculations allow to see the trends and compare the risks among the different job types and vessel types

15. Linieships; injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea1994-2014

16. Trawlers, group 2; injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea1994-2014

17. Garnskib, injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea1994-2014

18. Incidense rates per 100.000 days at sea 1994-2014 by type of vessels

19. Dekkari injuries /100.000 man-days at sea 1994- 2014

20. Maskinfolk injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea 1994-2014

21. Kokkur injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea1994- 2014

22. Brofolk injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea1994- 2014

23. Incidense rates of injuries per 100
Incidense rates of injuries per days at sea by type of job on board

24. on all types of fishing vessels
Fatal accidents per 1000 man-years based on average 175 or 200 days at sea/year/fisherman
on all types of fishing vessels
If every fisherman on average has 175 days at sea per year: Fatal accidents per 1000 man-years = 1,0
If every fisherman has 200 days per year:
Fatal accidents per 1000 man-years = 1,15
There is a minor reduction over the last 20 years,
1 per 1,000 person-years is similar to many other countries.
Norway, Iceland and Denmark have reducered the rates to about 0,8-0,5 fatal accidents per 1000 man-years
Corresponding to times higher risk for fatal accidents
than on shore  

25. Fatal accidents 1994-2014 per 1000 man-years based on average 175 or 200 days at sea/year/fisherman

26. Injury mechanisms

27. Injury mechanism

28. Injury mechanism hit by..

29. Injury mechanism Fall..

30. Injuries related to falls and slips = 22 %
Injuries from falls and slips on all types of fishing vessels
#injuries on the types of vessels
Incidence rate = ___________
#days at sea on the types of vessels
The calculation allows to see the trends as an effct of the safety
Injuries related to falls and slips = 22 %

31. Falls- and slips injuries per 100.000 man-days at sea 1994-2014

32. Injured part of the body 1994-2014

33. Type of injury

34. Time of accident

35. Implemented safety programs
Safety training for all fishermen has been obligatory in Nordic countries including the Faroes Islands for many years.
A multifactorial risk prevention model has been developed for many years in the Faroe Islands and includes:
manning, sleep quality, noise, training of the crew, regular risk assessment and safety culture etc.
Control of alcohol consumption in harbor is also relevant

36. Conclusions
The incidence of injuries in fishing vessels were reduced over 20 years
Probably due to the implemented safety programs
Especially the obligatory safety training for all fishermen.
There is a need to continue with the safety programs and monitoring of the injuries to learn from the past
More analysis of the data will be done

37. Thank you very much