What happened? The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has issued Safety Alert 03-19 relating to the consequences of manoeuvring in high current environments. Recently there were three marine casualties that […]
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
Three fatalities: stored energy; falling objects; traffic management
Incident 1: Stored Energy Release – Worker Killed During Concrete Pumping Operations A company was fined following the death of a worker at a dockside upgrade project at a port […]
Three hand injuries
Incident 1: Fingers and Hands in Rotating Machinery – Employee’s Hand Severed by Machinery A company supplying aluminium parts was fined after an employee suffered serious injuries when using a […]
Don’t put your finger in the wrong place: failure to isolate equipment causes serious finger injury
What happened? While carrying out work to fix the hydraulic arm of an ROV manipulator, the person involved was trying to adjust the position of the piston to align holes […]
Diver fatality during subsea lifting operations – update
This is the second safety alert concerning the fatal diving incident initially drawn to members’ attention in IMCA SF 19/18 Diver fatality during subsea lifting operations. This update specifically relates […]
Line of fire/pinch point – fractured fingers
What happened? A crewman suffered a pinch point injury resulting in two fractured fingers and a fingertip amputation. The incident occurred when a piece of equipment weighing 86kg was being […]
LTI: head injury
What happened? A provisions lift onboard a vessel became stuck. The chief engineer was called to attempt a repair. During assessment of the problem, the lift dropped whilst his head […]
Hand injury during closing of hatch
What happened? Four crewmen made a journey by small boat to inspect an SPM and floating hoses. After completion of the inspection and maintenance work, two of them were closing […]
Latent trip hazards
What happened? A member reports several trip hazards in vessel machinery spaces. On one occasion, a crew member entered the emergency generator room, stepped on an exposed support gusset, and […]
MSF: Near miss – potential dropped object during cargo operations
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 18-23, in which a 20ft basket was lifted during offshore cargo operations. The bridge team were later informed by the installation […]
High potential near miss: anchor brake failure
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) have released Safety Alert 18-25 regarding a potentially fatal near miss incident during dry-docking. A vessel’s anchors were ranged on the dock bottom for inspection […]
MSF: Two LTIs – a slip and a fall, and trapping a thumb
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) have recently released two safety alerts relating to lost time injuries (LTIs). These are Safety Alert 18-27 and Safety Alert 18-24. Incident 1: fractured toe […]
UK HSE: Worker suffers life-changing crush injuries – rotating machine
The UK Health and Safety Executive (UK HSE) have prosecuted a printing company after an employee suffered life-changing crush injuries whilst cleaning rotating machinery. The injured person sustained the crush […]
Pipelay technician sustained cut to wrist whilst handling testing equipment
What happened? During pipelay operations, two non-destructive testing (NDT) technicians were handling a ‘scanner belt’, which is used to connect the automated ultrasonic testing (AUT) scanner to the pipe for […]
Third-party high potential near miss – dropped gangway
What happened? During barge operations at a spool fabrication yard, a high potential near miss occurred when a gangway positioned between the quayside and barge fell 2.4m, landing on the […]
High potential near miss: tensioner pad dropped to under deck carousel
What happened? During the trans-spooling of an umbilical, a tensioner pad retaining bolt sheared, resulting in a 1.5kg tensioner pad dislodging and falling 11m to the under-deck carousel, where it […]
High potential dropped object during lifting operations
What happened? A crewman was hit by a steel plate bouncing off the deck after it fell 14m from a load after a magnet failed. The incident occurred when shaped […]
LTI – rigger tripped over quayside obstacle in the dark and fell
What happened? A rigger walking along the quayside tripped over an obstacle, and in the resulting fall suffered fractures to both wrists, a bone in his hand and his elbow. […]
Injury sustained during manual handling of sharp object
What happened? A crew member injured his leg while moving a mud agitator with unprotected blades. At the time of incident, the vessel was proceeding to port. First aid was […]
LTI: finger injury during lifting operations
What happened? A crewman suffered a serious hand injury whilst working on subsea mattress recovery using a quick release mattress handling beam. The lifting webbing slings and ROV hooks were […]
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