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.
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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
Inappropriate automatic activation of fixed fire-fighting system
What happened The fixed firefighting system in the engine room on a harbour tug automatically activated and all the gas in the tanks emptied. This occurred after two consecutive blackouts […]
Injury to little finger – LTI
What happened A worker suffered an injury whilst painting an auxiliary winch drum following maintenance. While performing this work a wooden beam was used to prevent the drum from turning […]
Electric shock after water ingress to switch
What happened A shore representative visiting the vessel experienced an electric shock after touching an electrical switch in the steering room. Stop the Work authority was exercised; the electrical switch […]
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 […]
Main bell wire rope damaged
What happened? At the end of a saturation dive, a main bell wire was damaged by the proximity switch bracket (chandelier) being picked up by a single broken strand on […]
NTSB: Lithium-ion battery fire destroys vessel bridge
The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB) has published report MIR-23-23 relating to a Lithium-ion battery fire aboard a tanker. This incident highlights some of the risks […]
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 […]
Fire in ROV workshop
What happened? A crew member noticed smoke coming from the ROV workshop and reported a fire. What went right? What went wrong? Lessons learned Members may wish to refer to:
Unplanned rotation of drilling machinery
What happened A large diameter subsea drill had completed drilling operations and was returned to the vessel’s deck for planned maintenance. Part of the maintenance programme required the drill support […]
Electrocution incident – make sure electrical equipment is safe!
What happened A vessel cook was received a mains electric shock when he simultaneously touched a metal bain-marie (the metal electrically heated serving containers commonly used in messrooms) AND the […]
BSEE: Lack of training with hydraulic torque wrench contributes to fatality
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 459 relating to a fatality which occurred on a drillship in the Gulf of […]
Differential pressure: dummy choke ejected close to divers
What happened? A dummy choke insert was ejected from a water injection (WI) tree by force of differential pressure, while divers were working nearby. A Dive team was removing a […]
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 […]
Near Miss: Personnel nearly struck by rotating chain attached to flexible pipe
What happened Crew were involved in the second end transfer of a 4″ (10cm) production flexible up to the top module of the pipelay system. As the second end was […]
Sudden and uncontrollable move of A&R head
What happened? At the end of offshore pipeline installation operations, a vessel was preparing for pipeline abandonment. The pipe end clamp was in the Hand-off Module (HOM) and had been […]
Battery explosion during routine maintenance
What happened A chief engineer suffered minor injuries in a battery explosion when disconnecting a cable from the battery. The incident occurred onboard a harbour tug. The chief engineer was […]
LTI: person crushed in watertight door
What happened An electrician was crushed and severely injured while working on a watertight door on a vessel. He was evacuated by helicopter. The incident happened when the door opened […]
Dummy hot stab ejected during leak investigation
What happened? A high potential near miss occurred when a dummy hot stab was ejected at 20,000psi. Personnel were out of the direct line of fire but within 1-2 meters […]
Live sub-surface power cable inadvertently cut
What happened A high potential near miss occurred during onshore preparations for a pipeline installation when an excavator cut into an energised power cable. Trenching activities for the onshore pipeline […]
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