Container door hinges failure: Container door fell on deck
- Safety Flash
- Published on 3 July 2003
- Generated on 15 October 2025
- IMCA SF 08/03
- 1 minute read
IMCA has received details of an incident highlighting dangers from the lack of maintenance to container doors.
What happened?
A container was being opened as illustrated in the two photographs below. As the left hand door was opened the top hinge broke, followed by the second and third hinges, and the door fell onto the deck.
Nobody was struck or injured during this incident.
The cause of the incident was found to be lack of lubrication between the vertical rod and the hinges, which should rotate on the rod. They had become corroded and jammed intermittently and had suffered fatigue due to opening and closing of the door resulting in cracking and eventually failure.
The company has noted the following precautionary measures:
- Container door hinges of this design should be routinely checked every time they come on board for signs of jamming, wear, tear, and lubrication applied accordingly.
- If lubrication and corrective actions are required on board, particularly to hinges in containers, then a non-conformance report should be submitted so that appropriate preventive measures can be taken.
IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of the entire offshore industry.
The effectiveness of the IMCA Safety Flash system depends on the industry sharing information and so avoiding repeat incidents. Incidents are classified according to IOGP's Life Saving Rules.
All information is anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate, and warnings for graphic content included where possible.
IMCA makes every effort to ensure both the accuracy and reliability of the information shared, but is not be liable for any guidance and/or recommendation and/or statement herein contained.
The information contained in this document does not fulfil or replace any individual's or Member's legal, regulatory or other duties or obligations in respect of their operations. Individuals and Members remain solely responsible for the safe, lawful and proper conduct of their operations.
Share your safety incidents with IMCA online. Sign-up to receive Safety Flashes straight to your email.