Impact of safety training on fish harvesters' and seafarers' knowledge and attitudes toward safety

Shaikh, Sophia Jasmin (2010) Impact of safety training on fish harvesters' and seafarers' knowledge and attitudes toward safety. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Safety training can significantly reduce injury and death among workers. A survey of fish harvesters in Newfoundland in the early 1990s (post-moratorium) found that all participants had incurred some form of injury. There is, however, no published literature evaluating the impact of safety training programs in the Newfoundland fishery. This thesis examined the impact of a basic and augmented safety-training program on fish harvesters and other seafarers. The Marine and Emergency Duties A1 programme is a basic 3-day safety-training course created by Transport Canada that all marine workers must complete. A sample of 40 fish harvesters and marine workers were allocated to either the basic or an augmented course (referred to as standard group and enhanced group respectively). All participants were surveyed before and after the training to assess their attitudes, perceptions and knowledge of safety issues. Results indicated an overall increase in knowledge in both groups with the enhanced group scoring significantly higher than the standard group. Discussion with the participants also revealed changes in attitudes toward the Marine Emergency Duties A1 programme mandate: from a general aversion (pre-training) to support for the continuation of the program (post-training). Whilst there was no significant overall difference in attitudes between the two groups, the enhanced group indicated a significant difference in more of the individual attitude items and the subscales as compared to the standard group. Further evaluation of the programme is necessary to understand its specific strengths and weaknesses as these relate to fishing and the industry.

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