The purpose of the study was to study the circumstances and incidence rates of fatal accidents in inspection obligated and non-inspection obligated Danish fishing vessels to identify areas for prevention. Information about the fatalities came from maritime authority reports, including vessel disaster reports, post mortem reports, maritime inquiries and police reports. The person- and vessel years at risk came from the Danish Directorate of Fisheries. During the period 1989–2005, 114 fatalities occurred. Sixty-one of the fatalities occurred in 36 vessel disasters mainly caused by foundering/capsizing due to stability changes in rough weather and collisions; 39 fatal occupational accidents mainly occurred on the larger inspection obligated trawlers during fishing. In the remaining 14 other fatal accidents, the main causal factors were difficult embarking/disembarking conditions by darkness in foreign ports and alcohol intoxication. In the period 1995–2005, the overall incidence rate was 10 per 10,000 fishermen per year with no down-going trend during that period. The fatal accident rates are still too high, despite the efforts to reduce the risk. Increased focus on regular and repeated safety training for all fishermen and improved safety measures are needed, especially in the underscored areas of sea disasters concerning small vessels and occupational accidents on big vessels. Better registration of time at risk for fishermen is needed to validate the effect of the safety measures.

A one-year retrospective study among Danish commercial fishermen revealed that the overall rate of injury was 20.4 per 100 persons per year. There were no significant differences in injury rates related to age. The overall rates of injury related to the different types of vessels—trawlers, gill-netters and Danish seiners—did differ statistically when the number of man-days at sea was taken into account. There was, however, a significant increase in the number of injuries on trawlers over 100 gross register tons. The overall number of days lost due to injury among all fishermen was 47 days per 1,000 days at sea. The highest number of days lost for work was on trawlers of 100–199 gross register tonnage. Preventive measures should be implemented in all age groups and in all the main types of fishing vessels.

Background Seafaring is a global profession and seafarers have their second home on board and live there for several months at a time. Aim To assess self-rated health status and the main characteristics of seafarers' working conditions. Methods Questionnaire study concerning the most recent tour of duty. Results A total of 6461 seafarers in 11 countries responded. In general, the seafarers' self-rated health was good, but it declined significantly with age. Seafarers from South-East Asian countries spent longer time periods at sea, and had lower numbers of officers and older seafarers than found among seafarers from western countries. Most seafarers worked every day of the week, and on average for 67–70 h a week during periods of 2.5–8.5 months at sea. Conclusions Seafarers' self-rated health was generally good but varied significantly by country. Working conditions also differed by country but did not reflect working conditions in general. Further studies are necessary to describe more closely the influence of work schedules on the health and social life of seafarers.