Union calls for fish farm health and safety review
A union has called for an urgent review into health and safety standards in Scotland’s fish farming industry due to concerns about the number of workplace accidents.
According to data obtained by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), over the last five years there have been 139 serious accidents, including broken bones, exposure to harmful substances, and the amputation of fingers. There has also been one fatality.
Industry body Salmon Scotland said health and safety responsibilities were taken very seriously and were fully complied with.
The BFAWU obtained the accident data from Freedom of Information requests to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
More than a quarter of serious injuries involved fractures, including a worker who broke their back and another who broke their neck. Three people also had fingers amputated.
In May 2023, Mowi Scotland was fined more than £800,000 after admitting health and safety failures that led to the death of Clive Hendry, 58, near Kyle of Lochalsh, in February 2020. He was crushed as he tried to move from a moving work boat to a salmon feed barge.
Scotland’s salmon sector directly employs about 2,200 people – many in rural areas – with the sector estimating that it indirectly supports about 10,000 jobs.
The industry generated £337m for the Scottish economy in 2022, according to Scottish government figures.
Last week a motion was laid before the Scottish Parliament highlighting the health and safety record of the fish farming sector and urging the industry to work with trade unions to improve the situation.
BFAWU regional officer Mark McHugh said the level of reported accidents was a “massive worry” and noted that, unlike Norway, the Scottish salmon farming industry is largely not unionised. He said union efforts to engage with companies on safety issues had repeatedly been rejected.
Salmon Scotland said member companies take health and safety responsibilities seriously and fully comply with workplace requirements, noting that salmon farming involves heavy machinery similar to other agricultural and processing environments.
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