Les déterminants biopsychosociaux de la réadaptation de travailleurs accidentés du travail

Malgré des années de recherches sur la douleur et les incapacités chroniques, peu de conclusions claires émergent quant aux facteurs de risque les plus pertinents. La majorité des auteurs s’entendent toutefois sur un fait, les troubles musculo-squelettiques et l’adaptation à leurs nombreuses conséquences est un processus complexe, multidimensionnel et déterminé par l’interaction de facteurs biopsychosociaux. Deux articles sont présentés avec comme objectifs généraux d’identifier les déterminants importants de l’ajustement à un trouble musculo-squelettique. Le premier article consiste en une recension des écrits systématique visant à résumer tous les facteurs pronostiques biopsychosociaux de l’ajustement multidimensionnel aux troubles musculo-squelettiques et examinant leur pertinence à déterminer ces divers indicateurs d’ajustement, principalement la participation au travail, les limitations fonctionnelles, la douleur, la qualité de la vie, la détresse psychologique et la rechute. Les 105 études prospectives recensées et correspondant aux critères d’inclusion et d’exclusion ont été analysés et chaque association significative a été résumée. Par la suite, 68 études qui ont inclus des facteurs sociodémographiques, biologiques, psychologiques et sociaux ont été analysées séparément. Leur qualité méthodologique a été évaluée, un niveau d’évidence a par la suite été établi pour chaque association entre les facteurs de risque et les diverses variables de résultats. Les divergences dans ces associations entre les différentes phases de chronicité ont également été identifiées. Un niveau d’évidence élevée a été découvert concernant le rôle des attentes de rétablissement, certaines pratiques de gestion intégrées de l’incapacité, les stratégies d’adaptation (coping), la somatisation, la comorbidité, la durée de l’épisode symptomatique et un niveau modéré d’évidence a été découvert pour les comportements de douleur. Lorsque vient le temps de prédire les divers indicateurs d’ajustement de sujets souffrant de troubles musculo-squelettiques, chacun tend à être associé à des facteurs de risque différents. Peu de différences ont été relevées lorsque les phases de chronicité ont été prises en compte. Ces résultats confirment la nature biopsychosociale de l’ajustement aux troubles musculo-squelettiques bien que les facteurs psychosociaux semblent être prédominants. Le second article est une étude prospective avec un suivi de 2 et 8 mois. Elle a été menée auprès de 62 travailleurs accidentés, principalement en phase de chronicité et prestataires d’indemnités de revenu de la CSST (Commission en Santé et Sécurité du Travail du Québec). L’objectif de cette étude était d’identifier les déterminants de l’engagement actif dans un processus de retour a travail par opposition à l’incapacité chronique, tout en adoptant une approche biopsychosociale. Cet objectif a été poursuivi en faisant l’étude, d’une part, de la pertinence de facteurs de risque ayant déjà fait l’objet d’études mais pour lesquelles aucun consensus n’est atteint quant à leur utilité prédictive et d’autre part, de certains facteurs de risque négligés, voire, même omis de ce domaine de recherche. Suite à des analyses multivariées, le genre, les attentes de rétablissement en terme de capacité à retourner au travail et l’importance du travail ont été identifiés comme des déterminants de l’incapacité chronique liée au travail. Après 8 mois, l’âge, la consolidation médicale, les symptômes traumatiques, le support au travail et l’importance du travail ont été également identifiés comme des déterminants d’incapacité chronique liée au travail. Ces résultats démontrent l’importance d’aborder l’étude de l’incapacité chronique et de la réinsertion professionnelle selon une perspective multidimensionnelle. Ces résultats corroborent également les conclusions de notre recension des écrits, puisque les facteurs psychosociaux ont été identifiés comme étant des déterminants importants dans cette étude.

Évaluation d’un projet pilote en télésanté pour le traitement des accidents vasculaires cérébraux.

Projet dirigé

Sleep, ageing and night work

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Skin lesions in envenoming by cnidarians (Portuguese man-of-war and jellyfish): etiology and severity of accidents on the Brazilian coast

This work attempts to establish dermatological identification patterns for Brazilian enidarian species and it probable correlation with envenoming, severity In all observational prospective study, one hundred and twenty-eight patients from the North Coast re-ion of São Paulo State, Brazil were seen between 2002 and 2008. About 80% of these Showed only local effects (erythema, edema, and pain) with small, less than 20 cm, oval or round skin marks and impressions from Small tentacles. Approximately 20% of the victims had long, more than 20 cm, linear and crossed marks with frequent systemic phenomena, such as malaise, vomiting, dyspnea, and tachycardia. The former is compatible with the common hydromedusa from Southeast and Southern Brazil (Olindias sambaquiensis). The long linear marks with intense pain and systemic phenomena are compatible with envenoming, by the box jellyfish Tamoya haplonema and Chiropsalmus quadrumanus and the hydrozoan Portuguese man-of-war (Physalis physalis). There was an association between Skin marks and probable accident etiology. This simple observation rule can be indicative of severity as the Cubozoa Class (box jellyfish) and Portuguese man-of-war cause the most severe accidents. In such cases, medical attention, including intensive care, is important, as the systemic manifestations call be associated with death.

Suggestion of an inverse relationship between perception of occupational risks and work-related injuries

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Anthropotechnological analysis of industrial accidents in Brazil

The Brazilian Ministry of Labour has been attempting to modify the norms used to analyse industrial accidents in the country. For this purpose, in 1994 it tried to make compulsory use of the causal tree approach to accident analysis, an approach developed in France during the 1970s,without having previously determined whether it is suitable for use under the industrial safety conditions that prevail in most Brazilian firms. In addition, apposition from Brazilian employers has blocked the proposed changes to the norms. The present study employed anthropotechnology to analyse experimental application of the causal tree method to work-related accidents in industrial firms in the region of Botucatu, São Paulo. Three work-related accidents were examined in three industrial firms representative of local, national and multinational companies. on the basis of the accidents analysed in this study, the rationale for the use of the causal tree method in Brazil can be summarized for each type of firm as follows:the method is redundant if there is a predominance of the type of risk whose elimination or neutralization requires adoption of conventional industrial safety measures (firm representative of local enterprises); the method is worth while if the company's specific technical risks have already largely been eliminated (firm representative of national enterprises); and the method is particularly appropriate if the firm has a good safety record and the causes of accidents are primarily related to industrial organization and management (multinational enterprise).

Forum: social network for the surveillance and prevention of workplace accidents

In 2008, academic researchers and public service officials created a university extension studies platform based on online and on-site meetings denominated "Work-Related Accidents Forum: Analysis, Prevention, and Other Relevant Aspects. Its aim was to help public agents and social partners to propagate a systemic approach that would be helpful in the surveillance and prevention of work-related accidents. This article describes and analyses such a platform. Online access is free and structured to: support dissemination of updated concepts; support on-site meetings and capacity to build educational activities; and keep a permanent space for debate among the registered participants. The desired result is the propagation of a social-technical-systemic view of work-related accidents that replaces the current traditional view that emphasizes human error and results in blaming the victims. The Forum uses an educational approach known as permanent health education, which is based on the experience and needs of workers and encourages debate among participants. The forum adopts a problematizing pedagogy that starts from the requirements and experiences of the social actors and stimulates support and discussions among them in line with an ongoing health educational approach. The current challenge is to turn the platform into a social networking website in order to broaden its links with society.

Diagnostic de securite d'une entreprise bresilienne a partir de l'analyse des accidents du travail par la methode de l'arbre des causes

We present here the results of a study of 21 work-related accidents that occurred in a Brazilian manufacturing company. The aim was to assess the safety level of the company to improve its work accident prevention policy. In the last 6 months of 1992 and 1993, all accidents resulting in 15 days' absence from work, reported for social security purposes, were analyzed using the INRS causal tree method (ADC) and a questionnaire completed on site. Potential risk factors for accidents were identified based on the specific factors highlighted by the ADC. More universal trees were also compiled for the safety assessment. Three hundred and thirty specific accident factors were recorded (man of 15.71 per accident). This is consistent with there being multiple causes of accidents rather than the assertion of Brazilian business safety departments that accidents are due to 'dangerous' or 'unsafe' behavior. Introducing the idea of culpability into accidents prevents the implementation of an appropriate information feedback process, essential for effective prevention. However, the large number of accidents related to 'material' (78%) and 'environment' (70%) indicates that working conditions are poor. This shows that the technical risks, mostly due to unsafe machinery and equipment are not being dealt with. Seventy-five potential accident factors were identified. Of these, 35% were 'organizational', a high proportion for the company studied. Improvisation occurs at all levels, particularly at the organizational level. This is, thus a major determinant for entire series of, if not most, accident situations. The poor condition of equipment also plays a major role in accidents. The effects of poor equipment on safety exacerbate the organizational shortcomings. The company's safety intervention policy should improve the management of human resources (rules designating particular workers for particular workstations; instructions for the safe operation of machines and equipment; training of operators, etc.) and introduce programs to detect risks and to improve the safety of machines and equipment. We also recommend the establishment of a program to follow the results of any preventive measures adopted.

Diagnostic de sécurité d’une entreprise brésilienne à partir de l’analyse des accidents du travail par la méthode de l’arbre des causes

We present here the results of a study of 21 work-related accidents that occurred in a Brazilian manufacturing company. The aim was to assess the safety level of the company to improve its work accident prevention policy. In the last 6 months of 1992 and 1993, all accidents resulting in 15 days' absence from work, reported for social security purposes, were analyzed using the INRS causal tree method (ADC) and a questionnaire completed on site. Potential risk factors for accidents were identified based on the specific factors highlighted by the ADC. More universal trees were also compiled for the safety assessment. Three hundred and thirty specific accident factors were recorded (mean of 15.71 per accident). This is consistent with there being multiple causes of accidents rather than the assertion of Brazilian business safety departments that accidents are due to dangerous or unsafe behavior. Introducing the idea of culpability into accidents prevents the implementation of an appropriate information feedback process, essential for effective prevention. However, the large number of accidents related to material (78%) and environment (70%) indicates that working conditions are poor. This shows that the technical risks, mostly due to unsafe machinery and equipment are not being dealt with. Seventy-five potential accident factors were identified. Of these, 35% were organizational, a high proportion for the company studied. Improvisation occurs at all levels, particularly at the organizational level. This is thus a major determinant for entire series of, if not most, accident situations. The poor condition of equipment also plays a major role in accidents. The effects of poor equipment on safety exacerbate the organizational shortcomings. The company's safety intervention policy should improve the management of human resources (rules designating particular workers for particular workstations; instructions for the safe operation of machines and equipment; training of operators, etc.) and introduce programs to detect risks and to improve the safety of machines and equipment. We also recommend the establishment of a program to follow the results of any preventive measures adopted.

Stressful life events and occupational accidents

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between stressful life events and occupational accidents. Methods: This was a population-based case-control study, carried out in the city of Botucatu, in southeast Brazil. The cases consisted of 108 workers who had recently experienced occupational accidents. Each case was matched with three controls. The cases and controls answered a questionnaire about recent exposure to stressful life events. Results: Reporting of environmental problems, being a victim of assault, not having enough food at home and nonoccupational fatigue were found to be risk factors for work-related accidents with estimated incidence rate ratios of 1.4 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.1-1.7], 1.3 (95% CI 1.1 1-1.7), 1.3 (95% CI 1.1-1.6), and 1.4 (95% CI 1.2-1.7) respectively. Conclusions: The findings of the study suggested that nonwork variables contribute to occupational accidents, thus broadening the understanding of these phenomena, which can support new approaches to the prevention of occupational accidents.

Forum: social network for the surveillance and prevention of workplace accidents

In 2008, academic researchers and public service officials created a university extension studies platform based on online and on-site meetings denominated "Work-Related Accidents Forum: Analysis, Prevention, and Other Relevant Aspects. Its aim was to help public agents and social partners to propagate a systemic approach that would be helpful in the surveillance and prevention of work-related accidents. This article describes and analyses such a platform. Online access is free and structured to: support dissemination of updated concepts; support on-site meetings and capacity to build educational activities; and keep a permanent space for debate among the registered participants. The desired result is the propagation of a social-technical-systemic view of work-related accidents that replaces the current traditional view that emphasizes human error and results in blaming the victims. The Forum uses an educational approach known as permanent health education, which is based on the experience and needs of workers and encourages debate among participants. The forum adopts a problematizing pedagogy that starts from the requirements and experiences of the social actors and stimulates support and discussions among them in line with an ongoing health educational approach. The current challenge is to turn the platform into a social networking website in order to broaden its links with society.

Industrial accidents triggered by lightning: causes and consequences

Natural hazards affecting industrial installations could directly or indirectly cause an accident or series of accidents with serious consequences for the environment and for human health. Accidents initiated by a natural hazard or disaster which result in the release of hazardous materials are commonly referred to as Natech (Natural Hazard Triggering a Technological Disaster) accidents. The conditions brought about by these kinds of events are particularly problematic, the presence of the natural event increases the probability of exposition and causes consequences more serious than standard technological accidents. Despite a growing body of research and more stringent regulations for the design and operation of industrial activities, Natech accidents remain a threat. This is partly due to the absence of data and dedicated risk-assessment methodologies and tools. Even the Seveso Directives for the control of risks due to major accident hazards do not include any specific impositions regarding the management of Natech risks in the process industries. Among the few available tools there is the European Standard EN 62305, which addresses generic industrial sites, requiring to take into account the possibility of lightning and to select the appropriate protection measures. Since it is intended for generic industrial installations, this tool set the requirements for the design, the construction and the modification of structures, and is thus mainly oriented towards conventional civil building. A first purpose of this project is to study the effects and the consequences on industrial sites of lightning, which is the most common adverse natural phenomenon in Europe. Lightning is the cause of several industrial accidents initiated by natural causes. The industrial sectors most susceptible to accidents triggered by lightning is the petrochemical one, due to the presence of atmospheric tanks (especially floating roof tanks) containing flammable vapors which could be easily ignited by a lightning strike or by lightning secondary effects (as electrostatic and electromagnetic pulses or ground currents). A second purpose of this work is to implement the procedure proposed by the European Standard on a specific kind of industrial plant, i.e. on a chemical factory, in order to highlight the critical aspects of this implementation. A case-study plant handling flammable liquids was selected. The application of the European Standard allowed to estimate the incidence of lightning activity on the total value of the default release frequency suggested by guidelines for atmospheric storage tanks. Though it has become evident that the European Standard does not introduce any parameters explicitly pointing out the amount of dangerous substances which could be ignited or released. Furthermore the parameters that are proposed to describe the characteristics of the structures potentially subjected to lightning strikes are insufficient to take into account the specific features of different chemical equipment commonly present in chemical plants.

Cascading events triggering industrial accidents: quantitative assessment of NaTech and domino scenarios

The so called cascading events, which lead to high-impact low-frequency scenarios are rising concern worldwide. A chain of events result in a major industrial accident with dreadful (and often unpredicted) consequences. Cascading events can be the result of the realization of an external threat, like a terrorist attack a natural disaster or of “domino effect”. During domino events the escalation of a primary accident is driven by the propagation of the primary event to nearby units, causing an overall increment of the accident severity and an increment of the risk associated to an industrial installation. Also natural disasters, like intense flooding, hurricanes, earthquake and lightning are found capable to enhance the risk of an industrial area, triggering loss of containment of hazardous materials and in major accidents. The scientific community usually refers to those accidents as “NaTechs”: natural events triggering industrial accidents. In this document, a state of the art of available approaches to the modelling, assessment, prevention and management of domino and NaTech events is described. On the other hand, the relevant work carried out during past studies still needs to be consolidated and completed, in order to be applicable in a real industrial framework. New methodologies, developed during my research activity, aimed at the quantitative assessment of domino and NaTech accidents are presented. The tools and methods provided within this very study had the aim to assist the progress toward a consolidated and universal methodology for the assessment and prevention of cascading events, contributing to enhance safety and sustainability of the chemical and process industry.

Emergency response to railroad accidents involving hazardous materials

The chemical industry has to face safety problems linked to the hazards of chemicals and the risks posed by the plants where they are handled. However, their transport may cause significant risk values too: it’s not totally possible to avoid the occurrence of accidents. This work is focused on the emergency response to railway accidents involving hazardous materials, that is what has to be done once they happen to limit their consequences. A first effort has been devoted to understand the role given to this theme within legislations: it has been found out that often it’s not even taken into account. Exceptionally a few countries adopt guidelines suggesting how to plan the response, who is appointed to intervene and which actions should be taken first. An investigation has been made to define the tools available for the responders, with attention on the availability of chemical-specific safety distances. It has emerged that the ERG book adopted by some American countries has suggestions and the Belgian legislation too establishes criteria to evaluate these distances. An analysis has been conducted then on the most recent accidents occurred worldwide, to understand how the response was performed and which safety distances were adopted. These values were compared with the numbers reported by the ERG book and the results of two devoted software tools for consequence analysis of accidental spills scenarios. This comparison has shown that there are differences between them and that a more standardized approach is necessary. This is why further developments of the topic should focus on promoting uniform procedures for emergency response planning and on a worldwide adoption of a guidebook with suggestions about actions to reduce consequences and about safety distances, determined following finer researches. For this aim, the development of a detailed database of hazardous materials transportation accidents could be useful.

Fishing effort control regulations influence on stability, safety and operability of small fishing vessels: study of a series of stability related accidents occurred in Spain between 2004 and 2007

Entre los años 2004 y 2007 se hundieron por problemas de estabilidad cinco pesqueros españoles de pequeña eslora, de características parecidas, de relativamente poca edad, que habían sido construidos en un intervalo de pocos años. La mayoría de los tripulantes de esos pesqueros fallecieron o desaparecieron en esos accidentes. Este conjunto de accidentes tuvo bastante repercusión social y mediática. Entre ingenieros navales y marinos del sector de la pesca se relacionó estos accidentes con los condicionantes a los diseños de los pesqueros impuestos por la normativa de control de esfuerzo pesquero. Los accidentes fueron investigados y publicados sus correspondientes informes; en ellos no se exploró esta supuesta relación. Esta tesis pretende investigar la relación entre esos accidentes y los cambios de la normativa de esfuerzo pesquero. En la introducción se expone la normativa de control de esfuerzo pesquero analizada, se presentan datos sobre la estructura de la flota pesquera en España y su accidentalidad, y se detallan los criterios de estabilidad manejados durante el trabajo, explicando su relación con la seguridad de los pesqueros. Seguidamente se realiza un análisis estadístico de la siniestralidad en el sector de la pesca para establecer si el conjunto de accidentes estudiados supone una anomalía, o si por el contrario el conjunto de estos accidentes no es relevante desde el punto de vista estadístico. Se analiza la siniestralidad a partir de diversas bases de datos de buques pesqueros en España y se concluye que el conjunto de accidentes estudiados supone una anomalía estadística, ya que la probabilidad de ocurrencia de los cinco sucesos es muy baja considerando la frecuencia estimada de pérdidas de buques por estabilidad en el subsector de la flota pesquera en el que se encuadran los cinco buques perdidos. A continuación el trabajo se centra en la comparación de los buques accidentados con los buques pesqueros dados de baja para construir aquellos, según exige la normativa de control de esfuerzo pesquero; a estos últimos buques nos referiremos como “predecesores” de los buques accidentados. Se comparan las dimensiones principales de cada buque y de su predecesor, resultando que los buques accidentados comparten características de diseño comunes que son sensiblemente diferentes en los buques predecesores, y enlazando dichas características de diseño con los requisitos de la nueva normativa de control del esfuerzo pesquero bajo la que se construyeron estos barcos. Ello permite establecer una relación entre los accidentes y el mencionado cambio normativo. A continuación se compara el margen con que se cumplían los criterios reglamentarios de estabilidad entre los buques accidentados y los predecesores, encontrándose que en cuatro de los cinco casos los predecesores cumplían los criterios de estabilidad con mayor holgura que los buques accidentados. Los resultados obtenidos en este punto permiten establecer una relación entre el cambio de normativa de esfuerzo pesquero y la estabilidad de los buques. Los cinco buques accidentados cumplían con los criterios reglamentarios de estabilidad en vigor, lo que cuestiona la relación entre esos criterios y la seguridad. Por ello se extiende la comparativa entre pesqueros a dos nuevos campos relacionados con la estabilidad y la seguridad delos buques: • Movimientos a bordo (operatividad del buque), y • Criterios de estabilidad en condiciones meteorológicas adversas El estudio de la operatividad muestra que los buques accidentados tenían, en general, una mayor operatividad que sus predecesores, contrariamente a lo que sucedía con el cumplimiento de los criterios reglamentarios de estabilidad. Por último, se comprueba el desempeño de los diez buques en dos criterios específicos de estabilidad en caso de mal tiempo: el criterio IMO de viento y balance intenso, y un criterio de estabilidad de nueva generación, incluyendo la contribución original del autor de considerar agua en cubierta. Las tendencias observadas en estas dos comparativas son opuestas, lo que permite cuestionar la validez del último criterio sin un control exhaustivo de los parámetros de su formulación, poniendo de manifiesto la necesidad de más investigaciones sobre ese criterio antes de su adopción para uso regulatorio. El conjunto de estos resultados permite obtener una serie de conclusiones en la comparativa entre ambos conjuntos de buques pesqueros. Si bien los resultados de este trabajo no muestran que la aprobación de la nueva normativa de esfuerzo pesquero haya significado una merma general de seguridad en sectores enteros de la flota pesquera, sí se concluye que permitió que algunos diseños de buques pesqueros, posiblemente en busca de la mayor eficiencia compatible con dicha normativa, quedaran con una estabilidad precaria, poniendo de manifiesto que la relación entre seguridad y criterios de estabilidad no es unívoca, y la necesidad de que éstos evolucionen y se adapten a los nuevos diseños de buques pesqueros para continuar garantizando su seguridad. También se concluye que la estabilidad es un aspecto transversal del diseño de los buques, por lo que cualquier reforma normativa que afecte al diseño de los pesqueros o su forma de operar debería estar sujeta a evaluación por parte de las autoridades responsables de la seguridad marítima con carácter previo a su aprobación. ABSTRACT Between 2004 and 2007 five small Spanish fishing vessels sank in stability related accidents. These vessels had similar characteristics, had relatively short age, and had been built in a period of a few years. Most crewmembers of these five vessels died or disappeared in those accidents. This set of accidents had significant social and media impact. Among naval architects and seamen of the fishing sector these accidents were related to the design constraints imposed by the fishing control effort regulations. The accidents were investigated and the official reports issued; this alleged relationship was not explored. This thesis aims to investigate the relationship between those accidents and changes in fishing effort control regulations. In the introduction, the fishing effort control regulation is exposed, data of the Spanish fishing fleet structure and its accident rates are presented, and stability criteria dealt with in this work are explained, detailing its relationship with fishing vessel safety. A statistical analysis of the accident rates in the fishing sector in Spain is performed afterwards. The objective is determining whether the set of accidents studied constitute an anomaly or, on the contrary, they are not statistically relevant. Fishing vessels accident rates is analyzed from several fishing vessel databases in Spain. It is concluded that the set of studied accidents is statistically relevant, as the probability of occurrence of the five happenings is extremely low, considering the loss rates in the subsector of the Spanish fishing fleet where the studied vessels are fitted within. From this point the thesis focuses in comparing the vessels lost and the vessels that were decommissioned to build them as required by the fishing effort control regulation; these vessels will be referred to as “predecessors” of the sunk vessels. The main dimensions between each lost vessel and her predecessor are compared, leading to the conclusion that the lost vessels share design characteristics which are sensibly different from the predecessors, and linking these design characteristics with the requirements imposed by the new fishing control effort regulations. This allows establishing a relationship between the accidents and this regulation change. Then the margin in fulfilling the regulatory stability criteria among the vessels is compared, resulting, in four of the five cases, that predecessors meet the stability criteria with greater clearance than the sunk vessels. The results obtained at this point would establish a relationship between the change of fishing effort control regulation and the stability of vessels. The five lost vessels complied with the stability criteria in force, so the relation between these criteria and safety is put in question. Consequently, the comparison among vessels is extended to other fields related to safety and stability: • Motions onboard (operability), and • Specific stability criteria in rough weather The operability study shows that the lost vessels had in general greater operability than their predecessors, just the opposite as when comparing stability criteria. Finally, performance under specific rough weather stability criteria is checked. The criteria studied are the IMO Weather Criterion, and one of the 2nd generation stability criteria under development by IMO considering in this last case the presence of water on deck, which is an original contribution by the author. The observed trends in these two cases are opposite, allowing to put into question the last criterion validity without an exhaustive control of its formulation parameters; indicating that further research might be necessary before using it for regulatory purposes. The analysis of this set of results leads to some conclusions when comparing both groups of fishing vessels. While the results obtained are not conclusive in the sense that the entry into force of a new fishing effort control in 1998 caused a generalized safety reduction in whole sectors of the Spanish fishing fleet, it can be concluded that it opened the door for some vessel designs resulting with precarious stability. This evidences that the relation between safety and stability criteria is not univocal, so stability criteria needs to evolve for adapting to new fishing vessels designs so their safety is still guaranteed. It is also concluded that stability is a transversal aspect to ship design and operability, implying that any legislative reform affecting ship design or operating modes should be subjected to assessing by the authorities responsible for marine safety before being adopted.