Introduction

With the issuing of Legislative Decrees dated 27/7/1999 no. 271 and no. 272 (legislative adjustments concerning safety on board merchant and fishing vessels and workers safety while working on vessel maintenance, repairs and conversions in harbours) and the decree dated 17/8/1999 no. 298 (adoption of Provision 93/103/EC dated 23/11/1993 concerning minimum safety and health requirements for work onboard fishing vessels), Italy has completed its adoption of all provisions contained in 89/391/EEC on the subject of worker protection.

In meeting its institutional duties involving the providing of information on the subject of workers’ health and safety, the ISPESL – Documentation, Information and Training Department, has created this multimedia product with the objective of providing an informative instrument about risks in the fishing sector, consultable both by operators from the Local Health Authorities Harbour Prevention Services and by those requested by new legislation to address specific issues in the field of seamen’s health and safety protection (shipowners/skippers, Safety and Health Representatives, sailors etc.). The product’s contents are characterised by various means of communication such as: film clips, photographs, drawings, tables, papers, voice comments, all connected by specific links. This facilitates opportunities for surfing our website as well as the entire web, where it is possible to find further full-text documentation, constantly updated with technical and scientific progress. The role played by ISPESL as the national reference centre on the subject of workplace health and safety will allow us to coordinate and report the results of various local initiatives, from both public institutions (research bodies, universities etc.) and employer organisations, trade unions, and cooperatives, organising and optimising this flow of information within the prevention informative system (SIPRE). A program involving cooperation with ISMAR in Ancona, the Harbour Area Prevention Services in Ancona, Fano and Senigallia, CIRM and Local Health Authority no. 7 in Ancona is currently operational. Moreover, joint work is being done with the maritime community in Mazara del Vallo (Harbour Master’s Offices, Shipowners Organisations, cooperatives and the sector’s social parties)
There is also a link on the website for the Bilbao European Agency for Safety and Health in the Fishing Sector, an information section organised with ISPESL’s research contributions in connection with its role as the Agency’s national Focal Point.

Due to its multimedia nature, the website is ready for all future updates that will hopefully arise from real cooperation between all interested parties.

The whole of the ISPESL work group wishes to thank the skippers and crews of the “ELNA” and “FALCO” fishing vessels belonging to the Ancona fleet, the “LEONTIGRE” from the Fano Inshore Fishing fleet and the “BIG MARLIN” in Senigallia, for all their help; without them many results could not have been achieved. Heartfelt thanks also go to the Harbour Master’s Offices in Mazara del Vallo, and especially Commander Valerio Zumbo, for cooperation in gathering accident related data, to the UILA-UIL, and especially Mr. Tommaso Macaddino for handing out the questionnaires, to the Associazione Liberi Armatori (Skippers’ Association) in Mazara del Vallo and also to the Doctor Leonardo Parriniello from the Local Health Authories in Mazara


Special thanks go to the Harbour Area Prevention Services in Ancona, Fano and Senigallia for the logistic help and precious cooperation provided for this project.