Care using hand tools
- Safety Flash
- Published on 1 August 2003
- Generated on 25 February 2026
- IMCA SF 09/03
- 1 minute read
A recent incident has been reported to IMCA. Whilst we do not have details of injuries or damage, it involved a fairly standard operation in the engine room
What happened?
An engineer was busy drilling holes in a pumping casing, using a high-powered drill machine, which he was using a rope to suspend and then holding by himself.
Causes given in the incident report were:
- A drill too powerful to be operated by a single person
- Limited space to operate
- Poor communication between engineer and his helper
Corrective action prescribed by the company to all of its vessels is:
- Heavy hand tools to be operated by at least two operators or other measures to be taken to make their use safer
- Choose the type of tool to match the job that needs to be done
- If necessary carry out a job safety analysis and do a toolbox talk before starting a job.
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