The Labor and Social Security Inspectorate and the technical bodies responsible for occupational risk prevention in the autonomous communities are legally required to investigate serious, very serious, and fatal accidents. Minor incidents are not always studied systematically, even though they constitute the vast majority. In fishing, they account for 95% of the roughly 2,000 incidents reported each year. Fishing is, alongside aquaculture, one of the occupations with the highest rates of occupational accidents here and across the world. Spain sees boat-related injuries with time off work to be twice the average of all sectors and ten times higher for fatal events. This reality calls for measures and better knowledge about sectoral accidents to prevent future occurrences, according to a recent in-depth INSST analysis of minor fishing incidents, given their weight and the evidence that some could have led to more serious consequences if another factor had coincide in time and place (INSST).
The study, born from preventive interest from the Maritime and Fishing Sector Working Group created within the National Committee for Safety and Health at Work to combat the rising trend in accidents, reveals a clear lack of crew training. Of the 201 minor accidents selected by regional authorities and INSST, 50 happened in Galicia — 35 in fishing and 15 in aquaculture facilities — the region contributing the most cases due to its weight in the country’s activity. Technical staff identified as many as 578 distinct causes. A single incident can involve multiple causes at once (INSST).
Main causes
Leading the list is a factor intrinsic to the activity: work surfaces are often unstable, including on ships. The second major cause is remediable: inadequate or non-existent training and information on risks or preventive measures. These issues trigger more accidents than weather conditions such as wind, waves, fog, or rain, and even more than improper work methods or failing to identify risks ahead of time that could lead to the incident.
Investigated fishing incidents primarily occurred in trawling and netting gear, followed by smaller-scale fishing gear. In aquaculture, incidents cluster in production zones (barges, cages, and breeding tanks, especially) and auxiliary vessels. There were 198 workers affected and 3 female workers, though among the foreign crew the average age stands out: 46 years (44.1 years for men). Eight in ten workers who suffered a workplace accident were Spanish nationals, with Senegalese (8%) and Moroccan (5%) among the foreign crew. The remaining 4% were from Cape Verde, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, France, and Indonesia (INSST).
Professional experience
Injuries most often affected deckhands (118 cases), followed by captains or skippers (24) and aquaculture personnel (13). Among women, two were shellfish harvesters and one was a diver. The report highlights experience on the job as a key factor, noting how tenure in the position influences knowledge of work methods and risks, as well as tenure within the company, which relates to awareness of risks specific to a given vessel, its equipment, and its work practices. Most minor accidents occur during the first year on the job, comprising almost a third of the total; incidents affecting crew with one to six months of tenure reach 18%. The next group includes workers with one to five years of experience, at 26.9% (INSST).
Experts note that the frequency of minor accidents declines as professional experience increases and knowledge at the work site grows. The same pattern appears when looking at company tenure, although the share of minor accidents in the first year rises to nearly 50%. In fishing, 41% of those injured had a permanent-discontinuous contract and 17% were on a contract for a specific task or service. In aquaculture, 52% held full-time permanent contracts (INSST).
During maneuvers
Seventy-seven percent of fishing accidents and twenty percent of aquaculture incidents were operational in nature. There were cases linked to a boatyard, crew conflicts, and two more due to capsizing and collisions. On fishing vessels, 124 of the 201 tracked incidents occurred on deck, well above the fishing gear area and the engine room. About half happened while actively fishing, especially during gear retrieval and maneuvering, followed by unhooking and load handling (INSST).
Falls are particularly common (52 in fishing and 19 in aquaculture), followed by overexertion (44 across both activities). Dislocations, sprains, twisting injuries and similar conditions lead the injury list. It is notable that even though these are a small percentage, there are recorded cases of amputation or barotrauma. While these were classified as minor, they carry the potential for serious or fatal harm (INSST).
Preventive measures not implemented
Aligned with the training and information gaps identified among the most common causes of minor accidents, and the fact that recent staff are more affected, the report warns of serious shortcomings in prevention. Although risk assessment is widespread, it changes when looking at preventive measures aimed at reducing these threats, especially their actual implementation. In 63.7% of cases the necessary preventive measures were planned, but only 27.4% were implemented — INSST technicians emphasize. These cases show that risk assessment alone cannot guarantee onboard safety and health if it only identifies risks and states preventive measures; real deployment and continuous monitoring are required as mandated by preventive regulations (INSST).
Cited observations indicate ongoing gaps in maritime safety training and supervision, highlighting the need for practical follow-through and workplace-specific risk controls.