Lost time injury (LTI): Thumb laceration

A member has reported an incident in which a crew member was injured when a can of enamel spray paint failed under pressure and parted along the seam. The crew member suffered a significant laceration to his right thumb. The incident occurred during a ‘routine’ maintenance when the crew member was about to start painting.

Upon inspection of the can, there were signs of corrosion along the seam of the can, which has caused the can to part unexpectedly under pressure.

Our member’s investigation revealed the following:

• There was noticeable corrosion of the seam of the aerosol can;
• The vessel had been operating in humid tropical climates over the past 12 months, which may have caused more rapid corrosion and deterioration of the aerosol can;
• There was no system in place to monitor receipt of chemicals or the time the chemicals had been on board.

Our member took the following actions:

• Thorough visual inspection of all aerosol cans on board and also fleet wide globally;
• Amended procedures for dealing with chemicals and other substances hazardous to health, to record when chemicals are received on board and set a maximum usage period;
• Reviewed company list of approved chemicals and see if it was practical to reduce number of aerosols used;

Members may wish to review the following similar incidents (key words: aerosol, corrosion, humid):

• Punctured aerosol results in chemical burns
• Lifting rigging on ‘Frog’ personnel transfer capsule (key quote: “corrosion may have been accelerated due to the hot and humid tropical operating environment in which the equipment was deployed”).