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
BSEE: person fell through open hatch
What happened The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 489 relating to a person who was injured after a fall through an open […]
Snagging hazards
A member reports two unrelated incidents in which a causal factor was something getting caught or snagged in an unplanned way. Incident 1: Corner of a container got snagged On […]
UK HSE: Incident during rig decommissioning leads to fatality
The United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a press release relating to an incident whilst decommissioning a North Sea gas rig, in which one person died and […]
Fire in engine room
What happened A fire occurred in the engine room of a vessel during operations. The fire was first detected by a duty crew member, and the watch team immediately attempted […]
Urgent inspection of pressurised carbon dioxide fire fighting systems
What happened? Coins were found inserted into CO2 fire fighting cylinders. During a 10-year third party specialist inspection of a vessel CO2 fire suppression system, coins of Chinese manufacture were […]
UK HSE: fall from height injury at container port
What happened The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a logistics company after a worker fell over 10 metres and sustained serious injuries. The worker fell through an […]
Tampering with approved safety devices
What happened? During a client inspection, the sight glass on a vessel main engine lubricating oil storage tank was found to have been fitted with an unauthorised and homemade ‘clamp’. […]
Near miss: lift bag released unintentionally from crane hook
What happened? During a saturation dive, deck crew connected a lift bag to the crane to subsequently send it down to the diver. When the crane hook went through the […]
Offshore platform decommissioning near miss
The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety of Western Australia (DEMIRS) has published Significant Incident Summary No. 6 relating to the unexpected movement of the Sinbad topsides during […]
NTSB: Fire on vessel – stray electrical current during welding
The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB) has published report MIR-24-15 relating to a fire aboard a vessel which may have been caused by stray currents flowing […]
LTI – person fell from step ladder
What happened A worker fell off a 2-step ladder/hop up and was injured resulting in an LTI. A tool required some maintenance before going into storage after use. To gain […]
Non-fatal man overboard: worker fell from height into the sea
What happened A worker fell 3m from a new jacket into the sea. The worker was uninjured and successfully recovered without harm. The incident occurred during the installation of a […]
LTI: fingers severed by spinning fan blade
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 […]
Crew member cut hand on broken glass during heavy weather
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 […]
MAIB: A slip into the hold
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published Safety Digest 1/2024, consisting of lessons from recent Marine Accident Reports. IMCA has reviewed the report and passes on to members some […]
Personnel exposed to hydrogen sulphide during maintenance
What happened Subcontractor personnel were exposed to a high concentration of Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) for a short period during maintenance work in a vessel’s Well Treatment System (WTS) room. The […]
Vessel collided with platform
What happened A vessel was waiting on weather when it collided with an unmanned and unlit platform. The vessel had been holding on DP at a fairly constant distance from […]
Stored energy – dislodged pin causes injury
What happened? During disconnection of a structure, a securing pin became stuck and could not be removed by hand. A hydraulic jack was employed to eject the pin which resulted […]
Hand and finger injuries
What happened Hand and finger injuries continue to be a significant theme in the incidents shared with IMCA by its members. This is a summary of two recent examples from […]
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