LTI: Hand injury in galley

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 4 April 2023
  • Generated on 18 July 2025
  • IMCA SF 09/23
  • 1 minute read

An experienced cook in the galley badly injured his hand when his knife slipped.

What happened?

The incident occurred in a vessel alongside at Christmas. The cook was preparing meat when his knife slipped and jabbed the top left part of the palm of his left hand, causing a serious laceration.

As a consequence the cook needed surgery to repair three damaged nerves.

Experienced cook in the galley badly injured his hand when his knife  slipped

What went wrong?

  • The cook used no PPE – butcher’s gloves.

  • The meat was not at the ideal temperature for cutting with minimum force.

  • Cutting was done by both pushing and pulling of the blade.

  • The risk of the knife slipping was neither assessed nor mitigated.

Lessons learned

  • Cut away from the hands or the body.

  • Use appropriate PPE in the galley.

  • Did the injured person feel pressure to carry on ? A person working alone also has “Stop work authority“.

  • Experience is not necessarily a fail-proof barrier or mitigation against risk.

Latest Safety Flashes:

LTI: Hand injury during capstan maintenance

A crew member was injured when their hand was trapped between a wire clamp on the underside of the capstan and the deck.

Read more
High potential incident: Worker injured when opening a flanged assembly

A member of a team of workers dismantling subsea emergency shutdown valves (ESDV) on deck, was badly injured when hit by parts of a valve which were ejected with force.

Read more
Near miss: worker suffers electric shock

A member of a vessel crew suffered a mains electric shock when working on a crane pedestal.

Read more
Unsafe use of electrical equipment in cabins

Crew members were observed inserting 2-pin electrical chargers directly into 3-pin vessel sockets to power their personal equipment.

Read more
UK HSE: load falls from lorry and kills cyclist

A metal heat exchanger, weighing over 2.5 tons, fell from a lorry and killed a passing cyclist.

Read more

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.