Mast head securing wire parted

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 10 August 2016
  • Generated on 21 March 2025
  • IMCA SF 21/16
  • 1 minute read

A member has reported an incident in which one of the wire stays securing a mast head, parted.

What happened?

A deck officer on watch heard a loud metal banging sound on the monkey island deck. Immediately both the radar switched off and someone was sent to investigate. One set of mast head securing wires (the port side) had parted from the long bottle screw and the strop had become entangled with a radar scanner. As a result, there was damage to the front side (radiation side) of the radar scanner cover, and the lower lamp assembly for the main mast head lights was damaged. The entangled strop was cleared away; temporary repairs were made to the radar scanner, and both radars tried out again.

Wire stay

The root cause of the incident was inadequate maintenance and inspection – failure to notice corrosion and impending failure.

Our member suggested that all similar securing arrangements should be inspected and tightened periodically and renewed or replaced, as necessary. Extra attention should be paid to all lashing and securing arrangement when heavy weather is prevalent.

Mast head
Position where wire parted from

Latest Safety Flashes:

LTI: rope under tension moved and hit person’s hand

A member of the crew suffered a serious hand injury when struck by a rope under tension.

Read more
Injuries during lifting operations

A member reports two separate lifting activities involving failure of lifting equipment and resulting in minor injuries to nearby personnel.

Read more
Finger injury during manual handling

An IMCA’s members’ utilities supplier in the United States reports a serious finger injury during manual handling

Read more
Acetylene gas explosion

There was a small explosion and fire when crew were working on an oxy-acetylene system.

Read more
Crane cab fire caused by fridge

On a vessel alongside, there was a fire in the cab of a crane.

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.