Accident prompts culture change among crews

A significant culture change in crew safety has taken place in at least some fishing boats after the death of a scallop fisherman off the coast of Shetland in 2016.

A fatal accident inquiry in Lerwick Sheriff Court heard today that Kirkudbright-based West Coast Sea Products had made the wearing of lifejackets mandatory for its crewmen after the death of 34-year-old Scott Rennie from Newton Stewart.

Mr Rennie fell from the scallop dredger King Challenger as he tried to unhook damaged gear on the “tipping deck” of the 21m-long boat on June 23.

In what Sheriff Ian Cruickshank called an “incredibly brave” effort to save Mr Rennie, fellow crewan Darren Rennie, who is no relation, dived into the sea to get a line around his unconscious crewmate.

Mr Rennie died without

“Lifejackets were enforced within two days of the accident”

being revived despite what an earlier Marine Accident Investigation Branch report said was a very quick evacuation to hospital by helicopter.

Giving evidence, Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspector Andrew Philips said that he was satisfied the firm had undertaken a root and branch examination of safety and had taken on board the lessons learned.

Within a few days of the tragedy it had banned crewmen from working on the tipping decks of any of its four boats and later introduced the mandatory wearing of lifejackets on boarddeckandincreased the frequency of safety drill.

Flotation suits were now also supplied just in case anyone else had to go overboard in the event of a rescue.

Douglas White, 59, who is a share fishermen and relief skipper for West Coast Sea Products, said that fishermen were “natural liars” when it came to observing health and safety, but lifejackets on deck were enforced within two days of the accident.

Along with the other fishermen who spoke, White said that he seldom wore a lifejacket, despite being a Seafish trained instructor, but that changed after the accident, an admission that was shared by the rest of the fishermen.

The inquiry continues in Lerwick today.