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Two recent incidents involving injuries

The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published two safety flashes regarding incidents in which workers onboard vessels have injured themselves.

  • The first incident occurred when a crewman was using an electric angle grinder at the top of a ladder and lost his balance, dropping the grinder, which caused a cut above his right knee.
  • The second incident occurred when an engineer was working on an electric air compressor which had not been switched off, isolated or tagged out. The machine started up whilst his fingers were in the path of the fan, causing lacerations of his fingers which resulted in the vessel being re-routed back to port. Isolation of the compressor was not conducted as the engineer deemed the task to be a ‘two minute job’.

IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of all. The effectiveness of the IMCA Safety Flash system depends on Members sharing information and so avoiding repeat incidents. Please consider adding [email protected] to your internal distribution list for safety alerts or manually submitting information on incidents you consider may be relevant. All information is anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate.

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IMCA makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained in the documents it publishes, but IMCA shall not be liable for any guidance and/or recommendation and/or statement herein contained. The information contained in this document does not fulfil or replace any individual’s or Member's legal, regulatory or other duties or obligations in respect of their operations. Individuals and Members remain solely responsible for the safe, lawful and proper conduct of their operations.