Union calls for fish farm health and safety review

A union has called for an urgent review into health and safety in the fish farming industry due to concerns about the number of workplace accidents.

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 Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (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.

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.

Regional officer for the BFAWU, Mark McHugh, said the level of accidents was a massive worry and pointed out that contrary to the situation in Norway the industry in Scotland was not unionised.

"People are going to work and are not 100% sure that they are going to return in the same health condition in which they left," he said.

He said their attempts to help with health and safety had been "pushed back time after time".

"The longer that goes on, these injuries, life-changing amputations, broken backs, broken necks, ankle injuries will continue to rise," he added.

A spokesperson for Salmon Scotland said: "As in any farming and processing environment where heavy machinery is in use, salmon companies take their health and safety responsibilities very seriously and fully comply with all workplace requirements."

The HSE said that it did not currently have plans to carry out a review of the salmon industry in Scotland but would follow up any incidents and take action over any breaches.

The Scottish government said employment, industrial relations and health and safety legislation were matters reserved to the UK government.

However, it said it encouraged "strong, constructive relationships between employers and trade unions".