What happened? A member reports a serious fire in the accommodation on a vessel at anchor. There was no injury nor loss of life, but there was significant and costly […]
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.
Submit a Report
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
Technical Adviser - HSSE and Offshore Survey
Contact
Safety Events
Electrician suffered flash burn to hand
What happened A third-party electrician on a vessel in dry dock got burnt whilst verifying the integrity of insulation on a 690 Volt bus bar. A voltaic arc was created […]
UK HSE: Poorly maintained electrical installation caused fatality
The UK Health and Safety Executive prosecuted a warehouse management solutions company after an employee was fatally electrocuted while servicing electrical equipment. What went wrong? Investigation found that: Control measures […]
Damaged Electrical Cable
What happened? During a washdown of a vessel’s cargo hold a crew member noticed arcing from around two electrical cables near the cargo hold light. Upon closer investigation he noticed […]
Shipyard worker receives electrical shock
What happened A shipyard worker received a serious electrical shock onboard a vessel in dry dock. The incident occurred when a shipyard welding team were setting up equipment outside on […]
Electric shock due to water in electrical equipment
What happened There was an uncontrolled spraying of fresh water from a sounding pipe in the galley, resulting in electrical equipment getting wet. As a result someone got an electric […]
LTI: Stored energy – rigger injured leg working on quayside
A rigger sustained a significant injury to his lower left leg while working on the quayside during lifting operations. The incident occurred during the hours of darkness, when a third-party […]
Fire in a safety locker
What happened? A small fire occurred in the safety locker of the changing room. The safety locker was used to store various safety items including among others: An Aldis-lamp spare […]
Serious injury incurred while removing wire rope sling from a crane hook
A rigger sustained a fractured shoulder whilst removing a large diameter wire rope sling soft eye from the crane hook. During vessel mobilisation of deck equipment, crew were lifting a […]
High potential near miss: Nitrogen hose failure during transfer of gas
What happened? As nitrogen gas was being transferred from the pipelay tower accumulators to storage bottles located within the pipelay HPU room, the pipelay supervisor noticed a sudden drop in […]
Lifting basket with unsecured cargo which fell out
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 […]
MSF: water based mud spill on deck
What happened? The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 20-05 relating to a spill of water-based mud. During routine mud transfer operations at an offshore installation the rig […]
Serious injury caused by high-pressure washer
What happened? A work team supervisor sustained a laceration to his upper right thigh caused by a high-pressure water jet. The injury required several stitches and the injured party was […]
UK HSE: Workers injured by unplanned release of mud slurry
What happened An electricity power station company was prosecuted after three contractors were injured by a sudden release of water and sludge, while carrying out maintenance work. Three crew were […]
Fire in engine room and subsequent collision with structure on transport barge
What happened? During the tow of a structure to location, a fire occurred in the engine room of the tow tug. This led to a blackout resulting in a collision […]
Agitator started moving during mud tank cleaning – leading to injury
What happened? An agitator in a mud tank started up when an employee of a third-party contractor working in the tank was in the way. He was hit by the […]
Potential for diver injury operating a hand-held torque wrench
What happened? A diver was involved in a near miss that could have resulted in serious injury when he was asked to function an ROV valve override on a subsea […]
UK HSE: fatal injury following catastrophic failure of pressure test equipment
What happened? A 64-year-old worker was fatally wounded by shrapnel ejected from testing equipment. He was leak testing eight 1500 litre cylinders, by applying compressed air inside to create pressure. […]
Two electrical incidents – UK HSE
Here are two recent prosecutions brought by the UK Health and Safety Executive, both relating to inappropriate working arrangements with live power. Incident 1 Two self-employed workers received serious burns […]
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