Potential for diver injury operating a hand-held torque wrench
- Safety Flash
- Published on 31 March 2020
- Generated on 13 February 2026
- IMCA SF 09/20
- 2 minute read
A diver was involved in a near miss that could have resulted in serious injury when he was asked to function an ROV valve override on a subsea isolation valve with a hand-held torque wrench
What happened?
The diver was asked to operate an ROV override switch with a hand-held torque wrench.
The operation was observed by a third-party technician who intervened and stopped the job.
The use of a hand-held torque wrench to operate an ROV override on the valve was inappropriate due to the possibility of a sudden uncontrolled unwinding of the spring mechanism, which could have caused the torque wrench to rotate and hit the diver.
What went wrong?
- The warnings on the GA (general assembly) drawing stating that hand-held tools should not be used were ambiguous and were missed.
- The valves procedure issued by the client did not include a warning or highlight the dangers of using hand-held tools to operate the ROV override.
- Engineers were not issued with the appropriate installation operations manual, which included warnings not to use hand-held tools.
- The assumption was made that a hand-held torque wrench could be used. Our member notes that similar incidents have occurred within the organisation.
What actions were taken?
Any operation of an ROV override on a double actuated spring ΒΌ turn ball valve (fail safe) should not be operated with a manual hand-held torque tool, unless there is clear confirmation from the client or the valve manufacturer that it is safe to do so.
Related Safety Flashes
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IMCA SF 19/17
2 August 2017
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IMCA SF 10/17
12 May 2017
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IMCA SF 08/17
12 April 2017
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