Dropped object near-miss: Crane rest damage
- Safety Flash
- Published on 29 November 2016
- Generated on 3 February 2026
- IMCA SF 34/16
- 1 minute read
A member has reported an incident in which a section of H-beam steel plate fell from a crane boom rest.
What happened?
The incident occurred during the booming up of the vessel’s aft crane. The main hook “headache ball” or hook snagged the adjoining twin fall main block storage structure H Beam (Photo 1). This caused a 50 cm section of storage structure H-beam steel plate to be damaged (Photo 2). The H-beam section, weighing 20 kg, fell 40-50 cm into the main hook bucket which is 2 m in depth (Photo 3). There was a risk potential for the steel plate to have fallen 4.3 m to the vessel deck area below.
Aft crane
Section of H-beam (post collision with headache ball and hook)
Section of damaged H-beam
Further investigation of this incident is on-going. Our member’s initial investigation revealed the following:
- No Banksman in place for removing the crane from the rest.
- Ineffective communications between the crane operator and the banksman.
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