Hot work conducted within the 500 metres safety zone
- Safety Flash
- Published on 19 April 2011
- Generated on 9 November 2025
- IMCA SF 04/11
- 2 minute read
A Member has reported an incident in which someone was found conducting hot work on a vessel within the 500m safety zone of a platform.
What happened?
Whilst the platform personnel were preparing for the lifting operation, the deck foreman noticed that someone was grinding on the deck of the vessel. The distance from the platform to the vessel at this time was 20 m. The deck foreman immediately contacted the master of the vessel via the radio and asked him to have the grinding operation stopped, as this activity was not permitted within the 500m zone.
What were the causes?
Investigation revealed the following immediate and root causes:
- Immediate Cause: Violation of procedures (by individual): an experienced member of the crew had decided to restart the hot work task (grinding) from the previous day without going through the formalities of the control of work (COW) process. All crew had been advised by the chief mate that the vessel was entering the 500m zone.
- Root Cause: Incorrect judgement: the person conducting the hot work was a longstanding employee with over seven years experience in the job. He knew all the requirements but nonetheless decided to violate the procedures as the job would only take a couple of minutes to complete.
Lessons learnt
The incident serves as a reminder that procedures are written in order to protect personnel from injury and illness, prevent damage to property and to protect the environment, and should not be ignored.
The consequences of this violation - the possible ignition of a pocket of flammable gas or vapour - could have been catastrophic to the individual, the vessels and platform crew.
All hot work should be controlled using the permit to work (PTW) system.
Prior to entering a 500m zone all crew on duty should be advised that:
- Smoking on deck is prohibited.
- Hot work on deck is prohibited.
- The use of a mobile phone on deck is prohibited.
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