We analyzed work safety risk factors, which are likely to occur during fishing in gillnet fishing vessels using the written verdict of the Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal from 2016 to 2020, and considered work safety management. Of the total of 37 fatal accidents, three cases in the East Sea, six cases in the South Sea, and 28 cases in the West Sea were very frequent. The accident rate per vessel by sea area (%) was 0.08% in East Sea, 0.12% in South Sea, and 0.40% in the West Sea. Based on the East Sea, the number of fatal accidents was 1.6 times higher in the South Sea and 5.4 times higher in the West Sea. Six cases (16.2%) occurred during departure and preparation for fishing in the fishing process, and all other 31 cases (83.8%) occurred during fishing operation. In the order of accident types, 21 cases (56.8%) of being struck by object, eight cases (21.6%) of contact with machinery and six cases (16.2%) of falls from height were found to be fatal accidents in gillnet fishery. Human factors, such as fishers’ carelessness and negligent safety management by captain accounted for 27 cases (73.0%) of the main cause, and 35 cases (94.6%) of the secondary cause. In addition to human factors such as fisher’s carelessness and negligent safety management by captain, mechanical factors, environmental factors and management factors must be improved together to reduce human casualties. These results are expected to be utilized as basic data for reducing safety accidents during the work of fishers.

This study has found the socio-economic factors that affect occupational accidents and measured the influence quantitatively. We built the panel data of 4 countries (Japan, Germany, the U.S., and the U.K.) and the analysis model counted on the fixed effect model to reflect the countries' differences. The fatal occupational injury rates in the analyzed countries had a statistically significant relationship with the level of per capita GDP, the proportion of the construction industry, the rate of male workers, annual average working hours, the rate of workers in manufacturing and construction industries, etc. The annual average working hours have a positive correlation with the fatal occupational injury rate. To reduce occupational accidents effectively, we should be monitoring and researching various factors that can affect the occurrence of occupational accidents such as worker characteristics, changing industrial structure, and changes in working hours.

Fisheries is known as a high-risk industry in Korea, and various efforts have been made to reduce occupational accidents. Trap fisheries represent crustacean production, accounting for 4.7% of total fisheries production and 10.7% of its production value, which is classified as a relatively high-risk industry. With the disaster insurance payment data of the National Federation of Fisheries Cooperatives (NFFC) from 2016 to 2020, the accident rate of the entire fishery, the accident rate of trap fisheries, and the type of disasters in the past five years were analyzed. As a result, the average fishery accident rate for the past five years was 5.31%, but it was high at 6.15% for coastal trap fisheries and 5.59% for offshore trap fisheries. Slips and trips, struck by objects and contact with machinery were the most common types of the accident according to the characteristics of the work, and hand injuries were analyzed the most. Additional efforts, including education for accident prevention, development of personal protective equipment and improvement of the working environment, are needed to prevent accidents caused by repeated types of disasters.