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  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 1 March 2004
  • Generated on 13 December 2024
  • IMCA SF 02/04
  • 1 minute read

A member has reported the following incident, whereby an employee sustained an injury to his right shoulder when he fell while jumping off a Zodiac inflatable (in a cradle suspended by a crane) onto the vessel deck, using the bulwark as a step.

What happened?

The injury required him to seek hospital treatment and to remain off-duty for four days.

The company involved has noted that this was ‘an incident waiting to happen’, because:

  • there had been no access-way/platform on the vessel to allow personnel to transfer safely between the deck and Zodiac.
  • project personnel had been jumping between the Zodiac and deck for over two years – this was considered normal practice on the vessel.
  • at the time of the incident, the employee’s right diving bootee had grease on its sole, which contributed to his slipping off the bulwark.

Our member took the following remedial actions:

The company has now provided safe access for personnel to transfer between the Zodiac and deck and has reminded its personnel that: ‘it is everybody’s responsibility to identify and report hazards, so that immediate corrective action can be taken to prevent incidents’.

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IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of the entire offshore industry.

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