What happened During saturation diving activities at 65m water depth, from a Diving Support Vessel (DSV), a diver was exposed to a sudden and unplanned release of hydrocarbon gas under […]
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
Angle Grinder Finger Injury
Hand and finger injuries Members continue to report hand and finger injuries. In last year’s safety statistics, 42% of LTIs reported by IMCA members involved injuries caused when workers got […]
Carriage of Methanol – Dangerous Goods – without proper certification
What happened? Methanol was being transported from place to place offshore, without appropriate Dangerous Goods certification. Methanol is very flammable. The incident occurred during the refuelling of a LIDAR buoy […]
Injuries to the eyes and face
A member reports a number of incidents where crew have sustained injuries to the face. Eye and face injuries are always a serious matter. IMCA has relayed these incidents to […]
Loss of heading control on an FPU during diving operations
What happened During diving operations at an FPU (floating production unit), the forward thruster was isolated, and the turret locked, in line with diving isolation procedures. The starboard aft thruster […]
Pipeline End Manifold yoke dropped from 45° position
What happened During adjustment of the yoke securing arrangement for a PLEM (Pipe Line End Manifold), the cargo strap failed resulting in the yoke falling and landing in its horizontal […]
LTI: Damage and personal injury arising from heavy weather
What happened On a vessel waiting on weather, a weathertight door in the crane pedestal from the main deck to the crane room was forced open by a large wave […]
Unauthorised entry into confined space
What happened Planned repair works were taking place on a barge. The work involved hot work (welding & grinding). During the works, the stand-by person, controlling several areas, observed sub-contract […]
Hot work whilst working at height in a confined space – job was stopped
What happened During a site visit to a vessel, it was observed that a third-party contractor’s welder was standing on the wooden platform (the actual height was over 1.80m) inside […]
MAIB: Electrician injured in explosion
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published Safety Digest 2/2023, consisting of lessons from recent Marine Accident Reports. IMCA has reviewed the report and passes on to members, as […]
Unprotected openings in floor grating – work stopped
What happened? Two workers removed grating panels at height on a horizontal lay system, in order to gain access to lift points for further removal of a lateral walkway section. […]
Fatality due to fire incident and fall from height
What happened A rope access technician had a fatal fall from around 8.5m while engaged in routine maintenance activities on a pipelay tower. Work was conducted by different vessel work […]
Caught between: unplanned movement of equipment leads to severe injuries
What happened? A mechanic was caught in the door of a freight container by a tipped-over hose saddle weighing 3 tonnes. The incident occurred when a team was performing maintenance […]
LTI – Person fractured pelvis in a fall from a ladder
A crew person suffered a fractured pelvis falling 4-5 metres from a temporary access ladder onboard a cargo vessel. The ladder was installed at a previous equipment mobilisation following realisation […]
Equipment starts unexpectedly
What happened THree mechanics obtained a Lock-out/Tag-out (LOTO) for a High voltage AC unit, and were performing routine maintenance on the unit. As one of them went to lubricate the […]
Dropped spanner falls 15m
What happened During work at height, a spanner became disconnected from its DROPS protection lanyard whilst crew were working in an area outside the installed protective netting. The spanner then […]
Poor control of work in dry dock
What happened A member reports several cases of hot work and other activities being conducted by contractors on a vessel hull during dry dock/maintenance activities, in which the work was […]
UK HSE: Poor control of work – worker suffered serious injuries
An individual supervisor – not the company – has been sentenced for safety breaches after a worker became entangled in a conveyor belt sustaining serious injuries to his hand and […]
Equipment on quay damaged when vessel started listing
What happened During inspection of two pad eyes on a Tiltable Lay System (TLS) using a “cherry picker” or mobile elevated work platform on the quayside, the vessel slowly listed, […]
Yawing of wind turbine nacelle placed ship in line of fire
What happened A wind turbine started yawing, placing an approaching vessel in the line of fire. A turbine nacelle had been confirmed as locked on requested heading and permission had […]
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