BSEE: Crewman fell to his death through faulty grating
- Safety Flash
- Published on 16 April 2021
- Generated on 15 March 2025
- IMCA SF 11/21
- 2 minute read
The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published BSEE Panel Report 2021-001 into a fatal fall from a platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2019
What happened?
A night shift production operator died when he fell into the sea through a rusty grating on the platform. His body was never recovered.
Less than 24 hours prior to the incident, a single section of severely corroded and deteriorated grating, posing a walking and working surface hazard, was identified on the north side of the well bay by a supervisor, who said that the grating section felt “spongey” underfoot.
Upon examination, he found that bearing bars at one end of the grating section had deteriorated.
Pre-Incident photograph of hazardous grating section
Post-Incident photograph of hazardous grating section suspended in open hole
Post-incident photograph of person standing near the open hole
Post-incident photograph of hazardous grating section
What were the causes?
Investigation by BSEE found several probable and possible causes – including communication breakdown, poorly maintained walking surfaces, and inadequate barricade installation.
- There was a failure to maintain all walking and working surfaces on the facility in a safe condition.
- Supervisors did not fulfil their responsibilities within the relevant, established Safe Work Practices (SWPs) when they:
- failed to promptly correct or prevent personnel from accessing the hazardous area.
- failed to stop work and warn all personnel of the hazardous area.
- failed to promptly correct or prevent personnel from accessing the hazardous area.
- The operator and its contractors failed to follow the agreed upon terms and conditions within their respective Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) bridging arrangements.
Actions
Recommendations included:
- Ensure crew are informed about all identified hazards in a timely and meaningful way.
- When hazards are identified, fix them.
- Better understanding of and agreement between, operators and contractors in terms of safety management systems bridging arrangements.
The full report can be downloaded here.
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.