What happened The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a safety alert on the catastrophic failure of a marine loading arm. Marine loading arms (MLAs) are used to […]
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
MSF: Cut Hand Whilst Cleaning / Hand Safety
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 21-10 relating to a crew member who suffered an unpleasant cut to the hand whilst engaged in routine cleaning. What happened […]
Incidents relating to hatches and doors
A member reports a number of incidents relating to hatches and doors, which can be summarised briefly for our instruction here. The first two incidents are findings from a tour […]
Catering crew unfamiliar with firefighting systems and emergency stops
What happened During a recent incident on a members’ vessel, the catering crew were found to be unfamiliar with the firefighting systems and electrical equipment emergency stops. The lack […]
Mains extension melted – not fully paid out
What happened A mains extension cable melted during use. This occurred during cutting on deck on a vessel in dry dock; sub-contractors did not fully pay out an extension cable […]
Dropped Object – door detached from TMS during dive
What happened During offshore installation activities a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) and Tether Management System (TMS) recovered to deck was observed to have a TMS door missing. The ROV team […]
Inadvertently drinking hazardous substances
What happened Someone unintentionally drank a hazardous substance out of a drinking water bottle. The incident occurred when crew members were painting on deck. During the work, one member of […]
Crew member thrown to the quay by unplanned movement of small boat
Transport Malta’s Marine Safety Investigation Unit (MSIU) has produced a report into an accident on a tugboat in harbour, which can be found here. What happened What went wrong? Some […]
Only a centimetre – an emergency exit hatch blocked by mooring ropes
What happened On a vessel alongside in port, an emergency exit hatch was found to be blocked. A team making a daily inspection tour round the vessel found that they […]
Life-raft dropped to the jetty
What happened A life-raft was inadvertently dropped onto the jetty during replacement of the ratchet straps on the hydrostatic pressure release unit. Three crewmembers were replacing the securing straps on […]
Hand injury from falling object during lifting operations
What happened A lifting saddle broke, causing a hose to swing and hit a crewman, causing an injury to his hand. The incident occurred at completion of cement pumping between […]
BSEE: Crewman fell to his death through faulty grating
The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published BSEE Panel Report 2021-001 into a fatal fall from a platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2019. […]
SIMOPS – Smoke from hot work task enters confined space
What happened On a vessel in dry dock, confined space entry was required for the cleaning of the vessel sewage tanks. Nearby, shipyard workers were removing a section of bulkhead […]
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 […]
Crane wire parted during offshore operations
What happened? A concrete mattress was being deployed as part of the construction of a pipeline crossing. As the load was swung outboard and before it entered the water, the […]
Bypassing safety controls – violation of working at height requirements
What went wrong On a vessel in dry dock, painting of the the hull was ongoing, using the shipyard crane and a personnel basket. During this work process it was […]
Sludge Accumulation in Fresh Water Tank
During inspection of a fresh water tank, it was discovered that there was significant sludge accumulation in the tank. Based on the condition of the tank, it was seen as […]
Lead-acid battery explosion
What happened A lead-acid battery blew up when an engine was started. The incident occurred when, after conducting pre-start checks on a generator, the 2nd Engineer attempted to start the […]
Inappropriate use of pneumatic line thrower for mooring line
What happened During mooring operations crew on a vessel used a pneumatic line thrower (PLT) to throw a mooring line. Several attempts were made, of which one was successful. Two […]
Disabled audible alarm on fire alarm panel
What happened During routine testing of the fire alarm, it was observed that the Fire Alarm panel was not emitting an audible alarm – there was only a flashing light […]
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