Lifting basket with unsecured cargo which fell out

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 12 June 2020
  • Generated on 21 February 2026
  • IMCA SF 18/20
  • 1 minute read

What happened?

A cargo basket containing equipment was to be lifted from the vessel deck to an offshore installation.

The crane on the offshore installation was unable to lift the load, resulting in the basket dropping back to deck and some of the equipment sliding out the basket onto the vessel deck.

A cargo basket containing equipment was to be lifted from the vessel deck to an offshore installation. The crane on the offshore installation was unable to lift the load, resulting in the basket dropping back to deck and some of the equipment sliding out the basket onto the vessel deck.

basket with unsecured load

A cargo basket containing equipment was to be lifted from the vessel deck to an offshore installation. The crane on the offshore installation was unable to lift the load, resulting in the basket dropping back to deck and some of the equipment sliding out the basket onto the vessel deck.

equipment slid out of basket during lifting

What were the causes? / What went wrong?

  • There was no inspection by deck crew on basket acceptance. The unsecured cargo inside the basket was neither noticed nor reported.
  • The weight of the load as understood in information received was 1800 kg; but the actual load weighed 4000 kg.
  • Whilst the unsafe condition was identified during basket hooking process, the Stop Work Policy was not applied by the vessel crew.

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