Lifting Operations
Lifting is a key part of almost every offshore and subsea operation. IMCA guidance helps ensure safety through every aspect - work planning, equipment specification and maintenance, communications, personnel competence and promotion of safe practices throughout the workforce.
In the marine contracting industry, such activities can range from lifting of stores and spares through to complicated and heavy lifts, with in excess of 200 different lifting operations that can take place on a single vessel. Each brings with it the possibility of injury to people and damage to equipment but, with proper planning, hazards can be identified and risks reduced or eliminated.
IMCA publishes a wide range of guidance to assist its members in ensuring safe and efficient lifting operations. The Marine Division co-ordinates these efforts, which are shared with all IMCA members as joint publications. IMCA also works with a variety of third party organisations to share expertise and contribute to wider initiatives.
IMCA's flagship guidelines on lifting operations set out procedures and basic criteria to show the essential components that should be included in company procedures for lifting operations and to offer advice on the steps within a lifting operation process that will promote safety.
Personnel
The competence of the lifting team is vital to ensuring safe operations. Lifting-related roles and activities are covered in detail by IMCA's guidance on competence assurance and assessment, with a dedicated logbook for crane operators providing a common, transferable and recognisable format for recording working experience, training courses, certificates and details of competence assessments. A range of safety promotion materials helps spread safety messages through the workforce.
Choosing suitable equipment and ensuring it is maintained, tested and certified in an appropriate way are also of high importance. Through a range of focused guidance documents relating to specific items of equipment, IMCA helps its members ensure they cover every aspect that needs to be considered when planning, specifying, purchasing, maintaining and operating lifting equipment. Click here for more details.
Members of the lifting team need to be able to communicate what is expected and what actually happens before and during a lift, as well as providing feedback once the operation is complete. A variety of systems are used to facilitate this, from basic hand signals to complex radio and audio/visual solutions. IMCA has published a dedicated volume in its guidance on operational communications series to assist its members in this area.
Reporting Forms
The following forms are available for reporting incidents to IMCA:
 Lifting incidents
Reports in companies' own formats are equally welcome.
By providing systems for sharing information on lifting incidents, near-misses and potential hazards, IMCA disseminates the lessons learnt, identifies key contributory factors, can liaise with equipment supplies and training providers and develops industry good practice as required, all to help its members avoid repeat incidents and ensure safe operations. Click here for full details on IMCA's incident reporting and analysis systems.
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