Safety Bulletin: Fatal man overboard from the potter Kingfisher, approx. 30 nautical miles east north east of Wick, Scotland on 12 July 2024

Summary:

On 12 July 2024, the crew of the fishing vessel Kingfisher (DH110) were engaged in manually shooting a string of creels. A deckhand became entangled in a creel’s leg rope and was pulled overboard, where his personal flotation device (PFD) inflated on immersion. Using the hauling winch, Kingfisher’s crew retrieved the backrope and recovered the now submerged deckhand on board within 7 minutes. Despite the efforts of the vessel’s crew, members of a Royal National Lifeboat Institution lifeboat, a paramedic from a His Majesty’s Coastguard rescue helicopter and crew members of an attending wind farm guard vessel, the deckhand could not be revived and was declared deceased.

The key safety issues identified were:

• The deckhand inadvertently threaded the creel toggle through his PFD’s safety loop while connecting the toggle to the eye of the leg rope.
• The PFD safety loop was a snagging hazard that had not been identified.
• The vessel’s onboard risk assessment had not identified the unsuitability of the lifejacket for the work being carried out.

Safety recommendations:

The MAIB has issued the following recommendation via a Safety Bulletin to the Home and Dry Safety Forum to immediately communicate through its members the need for owners and crew of creel fishing boats to review their deck working risk assessments to ensure that:

• Hazards associated with shooting or recovering creels, such as risk of entrapment in a running backrope, are fully mitigated;
• When provided, PFDs are of the required standard and are appropriate for work undertaken;
• When new hazards are identified the information is shared among the crew as soon as possible and alternative PPE is sourced as soon as possible.