The status of risk assessments in Norwegian fish farming

Abstract

The oceans will become the major contributor to the needed increase in global food production towards 2050. The fish farming industry is characterised by operations that are susceptible to changing weather, wind and currents, and face challenges when it comes to safety for fish and personnel. Previous research and accident analyses reveal a lack of understanding of risk factors during aquaculture operations. The objective of the pa-per is primarily to describe the status for risk assessments practices in the Norwegian fish farming industry ac-cording to the regulatory requirements. To improve the safety level at workplaces, the operators need to be aware of the safety challenges in their working environment. A practical approach to risk assessments based on preliminary hazard analysis is presented in this paper. This approach has been developed in cooperation with the aquaculture industry and has been evaluated in a series of workshops involving several operators with good results.