What happened? A crew member was setting up a pipe cutting machine in a vertical position to cut welding that was done on a jumper for repair, when they suffered […]
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
Consultant - Safety and Security
Contact
Safety Events
BSEE: Hazards to Personnel During Lifting Operations
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 468 relating to “red zone” or LINE OF FIRE hazards and increased risk during […]
Fatality during transfer of pipes
What happened A member passes information to IMCA relating to a recent fatality on a ship alongside. The incident occurred during the transfer of pipework between the quay and vessel. […]
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 […]
Unplanned rotation of drilling machinery
What happened A large diameter subsea drill had completed drilling operations and was returned to the vessel’s deck for planned maintenance. Part of the maintenance programme required the drill support […]
MSF – two recent dropped object incidents
The Marine Safety Forum has published safety alerts on two recent dropped object incidents, both of which have learning value for IMCA members. Incident 1: What happened A breakaway coupling […]
High potential: dropped chain assembly
What happened A chain assembly weighing 2.3kg fell 10m to deck, just glancing the helmet but potentially causing fatal injuries to a worker below. The incident occurred during lowering of […]
LTI – crew member fell down open hatch
What happened During mooring, a crew person was attempting to secure the rope on the aft section of the vessel. While performing this task, the person stumbled and fell into […]
Serious finger injury in power operated watertight sliding door
What happened A crew person suffered a very serious finger injury in a watertight sliding door. The incident occurred when engine crew were heading to a storage area for an […]
LTI: serious hand injury – fingers lost in unexpected hatch closure
What happened? A crew person was checking the water tightness of the engine room’s emergency hatch cover. Safety lock pins, used to prevent the hatch cover from closing, were missing. […]
Finger injury during lifting operations
What happened With a vessel alongside, crew were using the vessel crane to move a pallet of cylinders (part of the vessel’s hydraulic system) from one deck to another. This […]
Finger injury during shackle handling
What happened During a pennant wire spooling operation, the injured person was trying to remove a 35 tonne SWL shackle from the pennant eye. While trying to jiggle the shackle, […]
BSEE: Lack of training with hydraulic torque wrench contributes to fatality
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 459 relating to a fatality which occurred on a drillship in the Gulf of […]
Sheave became detached during lifting operations
What happened During recovery operations of marine geophysical sensors, a sheave parted from a swivel connection on the A-frame. The sheave fell approximately 6m to the deck below. No personnel […]
BSEE: A warning on tagline entanglement
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 461 relating to recent tagline entanglements which have resulted in several High Potential near […]
MAIB: Gantry crane wire parted causing injury
A gantry crane hoist wire parted causing a load to drop, causing injury and damage to equipment. What happened Engineers were overhauling a large diesel generator, using the engine room’s […]
MAIB: A heavy sheave fell over causing an LTI
What happened A bosun suffered a broken leg when a heavy sheave he was trying to manoeuvre, fell against him. On a vessel going into port, crew were preparing to […]
Hand injury while using manual torque tool
What happened? A deck engineer was torquing Grayloc clamp bolts connecting the gooseneck connector onto the second end of a flexible, using a manual torque wrench with a force multiplier […]
Hand injury in medical airlock
What happened An LST (Life Support Technician) suffered a finger injury whilst operating the medical airlock (“Med-lock”) on a dive chamber. The LST (Life Support Technician) was closing the Med-lock […]
Painter line snapped and hit crew member in the face
What happened A painter line snapped during towing operations, and the flying end struck a worker in the face. The worker was wearing full PPE (helmet and safety glasses) and […]
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