Positive: Parted mooring lines spotted before damage could occur
- Safety Flash
- Published on 9 October 2020
- Generated on 22 February 2026
- IMCA SF 29/20
- 2 minute read
What happened?
Two barges were tied up and moored at an anchorage.
Crew were working on a third barge when they spotted the unusual position of another barge, and suspected that a mooring line had parted.
In this particular anchorage there were a number of unmanned barges all tied to mooring buoys.
Noticing that there was a serious problem and spotting the damage required a sharp eye and more than that, a high sense of responsibility.
The unsafe condition was reported to the office; damage to the mooring line was confirmed by one of the company’s tugs, and the damaged line replaced.
Actions
Our Member took the following actions:
- Continued encouragement of acts of responsibility for company and other assets among all personnel.
- Nominated crew of the barge for appropriate recognition and reward.
- Made arrangements for regular rounds of the anchorage to check the condition of laid-up barges, especially before forecast high wind speeds.
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Alert ID: 1764 Published: 9 October 2020 Download: IMCA SF 29/20 (687.0kB) These flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing wider dissemination of lessons learnt from them. The information below has been provided in good faith by members and should be reviewed individually by recipients, who will determine its relevance to their own operations.
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