The SeSAFE project has to date focused on raising safety awareness and the development/delivery of safety training modules. This is a response to current inadequacies in safety training in the fishing and aquaculture industry.
It is now timely for SeSAFE to address other inadequacies in safety training by:
• Filling the gap that allows new crew to step foot on a dangerous work platform before receiving any safety training
• Providing consistent safety training content to all fishers nationwide
• Promoting SeSAFE as the industry benchmark in pre-sea safety training, that also serves to demonstrate achievement towards duty-of-care requirements
• Developing a standard of achievement and certificate of completion, for use as a recognised industry standard and potential requirement for employment at sea
• Overcoming jurisdictional inconsistencies and inadequacies in safety training
• Developing fishery-specific modules for multiple fisheries, to complement onboard safety inductions
• Extending SeSAFE training to seafood processors, fishery observers, and others
• Establishing a secure funding base to ensure persistent, long-term delivery of SeSAFE training as well as a permanent hosting organisation, e.g. Seafood Industry Australia.
There is also a need to continue existing SeSAFE activities because:
• Many fishers and others are anticipating recurrent safety training
• SeSAFE is one of the few sources of fishery-specific safety training, such as safe handling of fishing gear
• It will leverage progress and momentum toward improved safety performance, which may otherwise be foregone
• Several agencies, e.g. the Australian Fisheries Management Authority, are poised to use SeSAFE to provide safety training
• SeSAFE training means individuals can avoid group training sessions and reduce the risk of Covid 19 infection.
SeSAFE training responds to Objective 3 of FRDC’s National RD&E Seafood Industry Safety Initiative Strategic Plan 2019/21, 'Increase uptake by industry of workplace safety and safety training programs and education tools', by serving the education component of the Strategic Plan.
