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Unsafe actions and conditions – inhibited alarm buttons

What happened?

On a vessel safety walk-round, an unsafe condition was found whereby alarm push buttons for acknowledgement/mute were kept pressed using toothpicks and scotch tape.

While these were not fire alarms, the principle is the same and for this reason, this incident has been included in a safety flash covering fire-related incidents.

Visual alarms, buzzers and sirens are installed and available for a reason.  Timely attendance to alarms is vital to protect personnel, equipment and the vessel against major failures and incidents.

Members may wish to refer to:

Safety Event

Published: 3 May 2019
Download: IMCA SF 09/19

Relevant life-saving rules:
IMCA Safety Flashes
Submit a Report

IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of all. The effectiveness of the IMCA Safety Flash system depends on Members sharing information and so avoiding repeat incidents. Please consider adding [email protected] to your internal distribution list for safety alerts or manually submitting information on incidents you consider may be relevant. All information is anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate.

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