What happened A rope access technician had a fatal fall from around 8.5m while engaged in routine maintenance activities on a pipelay tower. Work was conducted by different vessel work […]
Safety Flashes
IMCA safety flashes disseminate important information on incidents and potential hazards and the lessons learnt from them that can help prevent incidents occurring elsewhere in the industry.
Individual safety events are available individually online, tagged and searchable, while the traditional PDF collections are also available for download.
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All members are encouraged to contribute relevant safety-related information – please visit our Safety Flash Reporting page for details on the submission process.
IMCA Contact
Nicholas Hough
Consultant - Safety and Security
Contact
Safety Events
Caught between: unplanned movement of equipment leads to severe injuries
What happened? A mechanic was caught in the door of a freight container by a tipped-over hose saddle weighing 3 tonnes. The incident occurred when a team was performing maintenance […]
LTI – Person fractured pelvis in a fall from a ladder
A crew person suffered a fractured pelvis falling 4-5 metres from a temporary access ladder onboard a cargo vessel. The ladder was installed at a previous equipment mobilisation following realisation […]
Equipment starts unexpectedly
What happened THree mechanics obtained a Lock-out/Tag-out (LOTO) for a High voltage AC unit, and were performing routine maintenance on the unit. As one of them went to lubricate the […]
Dropped spanner falls 15m
What happened During work at height, a spanner became disconnected from its DROPS protection lanyard whilst crew were working in an area outside the installed protective netting. The spanner then […]
Poor control of work in dry dock
What happened A member reports several cases of hot work and other activities being conducted by contractors on a vessel hull during dry dock/maintenance activities, in which the work was […]
UK HSE: Poor control of work – worker suffered serious injuries
An individual supervisor – not the company – has been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker became entangled in a conveyor belt sustaining serious injuries to his hand and […]
Equipment on quay damaged when vessel started listing
What happened During inspection of two pad eyes on a Tiltable Lay System (TLS) using a “cherry picker” or mobile elevated work platform on the quayside, the vessel slowly listed, […]
Yawing of wind turbine nacelle placed ship in line of fire
What happened A wind turbine started yawing, placing an approaching vessel in the line of fire. A turbine nacelle had been confirmed as locked on requested heading and permission had […]
Fatality – explosive failure of corroded fire extinguisher
What happened? A person was killed when there was a catastrophic explosive failure of a corroded fire extinguisher. The incident occurred when the person was discharging a corroded handheld cartridge-type, […]
Unexpected truck movement caused rigger to fall off a ladder
An unexpected movement of a container loaded truck during disconnection of the container’s rigging, caused a rigger to fall off a ladder leaning against the container. Two containers were being […]
Falls from step ladders
What happened? A member reports two incidents in which persons fell off step ladders and were injured as a result. Incident 1 While climbing back down a ladder from the […]
Deliberate failure to follow instructions: unsafe/quarantined tools brought back into use
What happened? During a routine vessel inspection, crew were observed using a grinder with a selector switch as opposed to a paddle switch, which was contrary to procedures and communication […]
Fall of a suspended load on general cargo vessel ZEA Servant injuring two crew
What happened? The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published an Accident Investigation Report 11/2020 relating to an incident on the general cargo vessel ZEA Servant in Campbeltown, Scotland. […]
Provisions Crane damaged by Main Deck Crane
What happened? During vessel mobilization the boat cradle had to be shifted from centre of the main deck towards the starboard side closer to the accommodation. The Main Crane was […]
Near miss: Lever Hoist Failure
What happened? A lever hoist failed causing a load to descend to deck in an uncontrolled manner. The near miss incident occurred when a set of 1m trenching swords were […]
Near miss: Incorrectly set lifeboat hook
What happened? During a routine launch and recovery drill, the lifeboat crew became concerned that the forward hook was not engaging correctly despite the ‘padlock’ symbol indicating correct closure. With […]
Safe use of FIBC (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container)
What happened? A FIBC (Flexible Intermediate Bulk Container) containing 36 sand bags weighing approx. 25kg each was being lifted from the quayside to the vessel. As the load was lifted […]
High potential incident: gantry hoist failure
What happened? An electrically powered gantry hoist failed whilst under load dropping cargo and lifting equipment to deck. The incident occurred during a lift of 500kg of palletised provisions onto […]
Lifting operations: wire hoist rope failure
What happened? When conducting a standard lifting operation of a 24.5te storage vessel and lifting frame (approximately 36% of the crane 70te maximum rated capacity) the wire hoist rope (WHR) […]
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