What happened A member reports two hand injuries. Incident 1 As a Pilot climbed the vessel’s access hatch to the under-deck passage, his backpack straps entangled with the hatch retaining […]
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
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Fire in the laundry room
What happened? A smoke detector was activated. A deck officer checked the origin of the alarm which was coming from an area close to the laundry room. A general fire […]
LTI – crew member fell down open hatch
What happened During mooring, a crew person was attempting to secure the rope on the aft section of the vessel. While performing this task, the person stumbled and fell into […]
Safety Flashes – a summary of 2022
This is a summary of the 29 IMCA Safety Flashes published during 2022. All the published safety events or incidents are available on the IMCA website as individual web pages […]
Clogged tumble-dryer exhaust fan – potential for fire
What happened During a weekly inspection of the laundry room on a vessel, rags and lint twisted together were found in the exhaust fan of one of the dryers. Further […]
Near miss: oily rag activated smoke sensor in vessel laundry area
What happened A fire alarm was activated from the laundry room. On duty personnel were sent to investigate and discovered smoke was coming from one of the clothes dryers in […]
Man overboard from anchor handler tug
What happened A sub-contracted anchor handling tug was performing grapnel run activities using a long chain as a grapnel. Whilst overboarding the chain, a crew member lost balance and fell […]
Fire at sea – some timely reminders (Safety4Sea)
The online safety magazine https://safety4sea.com, which amongst other organisations, re-publishes IMCA safety flashes, has published an article entitled “Tackling fire onboard: Where we stand”. It is based on findings from […]
What are audits for? Some eCMID findings
eCMID is IMCA’s well-respected safety management system health-check for offshore vessels – an electronic version of the Common Marine Inspection Document. The results here are from 769 eCMID inspections, conducted […]
LTI – ankle injury caused during lifting operations
What happened During slewing of the crane during a jacket lifting operation the jacket started rotating. The rigging crew used a steering line in an attempt to stop the jacket […]
Tumble dryer fire: lint ignition
What happened? Accumulated lint trapped inside an industrial tumble dryer onboard a member’s vessel, overheated and ignited. Whilst working in the vessel laundry a steward smelt burning coming from one […]
Smouldering fire in tumble dryer
What happened? A tumble dryer was in operation when the heat within the machine exceeded its safe operating level resulting in items of laundry inside the machine overheating and generating […]
Auto-ignition of laundry items
What happened? Cloths used for general galley cleaning were removed from a tumble dryer, immediately folded and piled in a steel bucket. Three hours later they were stowed in a […]
Near miss: potential fire in the laundry room
What happened? A vessel was on standby when a fire alarm was activated from the laundry room. The steward was nearby and took immediate action by switching off the relevant […]
Near-miss: Laundry fire hazards
Two members have reported recent near misses which might have developed into fires in the laundry room. Incident 1 A member has reported a near miss which might have developed […]
Fire: Spontaneous combustion of towels
Two members have reported incidents in which there were fires in the laundry arising from the spontaneous combustion of galley towels removed from the tumble dryer. Incident 1 The galley […]
Slips, trips and falls – raising awareness
A number of our members have seen an increase in the number of slips, trips and falls reported from offshore vessels in the past twelve months. There is a clear […]
Tumble dryer fire onboard a vessel
A member has reported an incident in which there was a small fire inside the drum of a tumble dryer on a vessel offshore. A burning smell was detected on […]
Fire incidents
Fire is one of the greatest risks to vessels and everybody needs to be on constant guard to prevent fires. We have recently received the following reports of incidents involving […]
Leg injuries: knee injury, ankle injury (1), Ankle injury (2)
The following three incidents involving leg injuries have been reported by one of our members: Knee injury A rigger was working on the aft deck of the member’s vessel when […]
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