Injury caused by movement of wire rope under tension
- Safety Flash
- Published on 13 May 2014
- Generated on 13 February 2026
- IMCA SF 07/14
- 1 minute read
A Member has reported an incident in which someone was injured by an anchor wire that skidded off unexpectedly off a flatbed trailer.
What happened?
The incident occurred on a beach during cable installation operations, when personnel were connecting midline buoys to an anchor wire. The injured person sustained a broken foot but the incident had the potential to be a fatality.
Scene of incident
The investigation revealed the following:
The root causes was lack of knowledge of what was happening at the worksite: persons involved were not aware of the fact that tension is still in a wire even when hanging slack and lying on the beach for a considerable length (700 metres).
Lessons learnt
It is in the nature of a wire rope that there will always be stored or residual energy in a length of it. This introduces a range of potential safety issues including manual handling and unexpected release of energy when handling the wire ropes. These issues should be taken into account in job planning, tool box talk and risk assessment before the start of the job.
Related safety flashes
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IMCA SF 13/13
4 September 2013
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IMCA SF 17/08
3 December 2008
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IMCA SF 05/03
1 June 2003
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