What happened? A vessel was carrying out a monthly rescue boat drill when, as a result of procedures not being followed, there was a sudden and unplanned deployment of the […]
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
Flooding in steering gear compartment
What happened? A vessel lost control of its steering gear due to leakage through the Karm fork seals, leading to uncontrolled flooding in the steering compartment. The engine room received […]
Lost time injury (LTI): loose grating fell from crane, a man fell through and was injured
What happened? A crane operator stepped on a loose piece of grating on the crane walkway. The grating fell 18m to deck below, damaging some stairs. The crane operator fell […]
Crewman got cement dust in his eyes
What happened? During the discharging of a cement tank on board a vessel, a crewman was standing in the path of a blow back of cement dust, and the dust […]
Failure of pipework in fuel tanks
What happened? Water ingress into a fuel tank was discovered to be from leaking pipework. Water ingress was reported into a fuel tank from two seawater lines running through the […]
Two near misses: loads fell from height to deck
What happened? During two recent lifting operations, loads fell from height to the deck. In one case the rigging crew were close to where the load landed – the incident […]
Worker was injured by a fork lift truck
What happened? A worker wasstruck by a reversing fork lift truck which resulted in him fracturing his pelvis. His employer was prosecuted by the UK Health & Safety Executive (UK […]
Passenger safety in retrofitted mini-vans/buses
What happened? An International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) member reports on an audit into the use of retrofitted vehicles, e.g. converted cargo-duty mini-vans/buses for passenger transportation. Inspections […]
Counterfeit training certificates
What happened? IMCA has been advised that there has been a recent increase in counterfeit training certificates in circulation for crane operators, riggers, banksman/slingers etc. It is reported that the […]
Fatality during unpacking of heavy electrical panel equipment
What happened? Step Change UK report a fatal incident which occurred during the unpacking of heavy electrical equipment on an offshore production platform. A Variable Speed Drive electrical panel, weighing […]
Incorrect pressure gauge on high pressure supply line
What happened? The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) has published Safety Alert 284 relating to a small steam leak from a pressure gauge on the high pressure […]
Power loss within dive control
What happened? During diving operations, there was a power loss scenario within dive control whereby both circuit breakers after the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) tripped, causing a loss of power […]
Hand injury whilst using pillar drill
What happened The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published an alert in which someone was injured whilst using a pillar drill. An experienced engineer was changing out a drill bit […]
Unsafe mooring practices
What happened During a routine marine inspection of a vessel it was observed that rope lines had been attached to the mooring winch control levers to facilitate ‘remote’ operation of […]
Painter parted during small boat operations
What happened The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) reports an incident in which the forward painter quick release on a fast rescue craft (FRC) parted during recovery of the boat. Three […]
Stored energy – Worker scalded when hot ash dropped into water
What happened The UK HSE reports that a company was fined after a worker received severe burns to his upper body and face. The incident occurred when a worker was […]
Worker severely burnt following oxygen explosion
What happened? The UK HSE reports that an engineering company was fined after a worker suffered life changing injuries after an oxygen pipe exploded in front of him. Work was […]
Crewman found collapsed – Seasickness
What happened? A trainee member of the crew was found lying unconscious on the deck between two cement tanks. In falling his left arm had twisted under him but there […]
Worker suffers hand injury
What happened? The UK Health & Safety Executive (UK HSE) reports that a company was fined after a worker suffered a serious hand injury after a machinery incident. The incident […]
Chemical spill leads to costly deck replacement
What happened? The USCG has published Marine Safety Alert 01-17 relating to hazards from chemical spills. USCG inspectors found several cracks and parted seams in the aluminium braces of the […]
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