What happened A chain assembly weighing 2.3kg fell 10m to deck, just glancing the helmet but potentially causing fatal injuries to a worker below. The incident occurred during lowering of […]
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
Unexpected Descent and Ascent of Mattress Lifting Frame
What happened? A subsea load close to working divers started moving with no intervention from the crane operator. The incident occurred during movement of concrete mattresses using a mattress handling […]
Chain caught and broke
What happened Crew were removing a hydrogen gland from a generator using a lifting attachment, two chain falls, and an overhead crane. One of the chain fall’s pull chains caught […]
BSEE: Overhaul Ball falls to deck resulting in High Potential near miss
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 460 relating to a dropped object during lifting operations. While conducting crane operations during […]
Finger injury during shackle handling
What happened During a pennant wire spooling operation, the injured person was trying to remove a 35 tonne SWL shackle from the pennant eye. While trying to jiggle the shackle, […]
Sheave became detached during lifting operations
What happened During recovery operations of marine geophysical sensors, a sheave parted from a swivel connection on the A-frame. The sheave fell approximately 6m to the deck below. No personnel […]
Near Miss: personnel transfer basket hit structure
What happened During a transfer of two personnel to a platform using the vessel crane, the base bumper of the personnel transfer basket came into contact with the helipad netting […]
MAIB: Gantry crane wire parted causing injury
A gantry crane hoist wire parted causing a load to drop, causing injury and damage to equipment. What happened Engineers were overhauling a large diesel generator, using the engine room’s […]
Ineffective Crane Stinger Hook Pin Installation (BSEE)
What happened The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Report 452 relating to a high-potential dropped object incident on a Gulf of Mexico energy […]
High potential near miss: Uncontrollable movement of auxiliary whip line
What happened When starting up, a vessel main crane started behaving in an uncontrollable and potentially hazardous way. The block and hook were hoisted up to the sheave, when the […]
Connection failure during lifting operation
What happened? On a windfarm installation vessel, there was a connection failure during operations. During lowering and rotating of the Vibro Lifting Tool (VLT) into the skidding frame for the […]
Oil leakage from vessel crane onto quayside
What happened A hydraulic pipe burst causing an oil leak. The incident occurred when a vessel was alongside retrieving anchor handling chains from chain lockers to the main deck. This […]
BSEE: Unsafe crane working practices result in injury
The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert #446 relating to an injury caused by unsafe crane working practices. What happened A lead mechanic […]
Accidental release of free-fall lifeboat
What happened The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) has published safety investigation report M20P0353 relating to the accidental release of a free-fall lifeboat from a bulk carrier. The incident […]
Riggers injured while disconnecting rigging
What happened Three riggers were injured whilst removing rigging from a load of timber pads after they had been backloaded from the vessel to a cargo barge. The barge and […]
Three bolts sheared on a lifting trunnion
What happened After successful installation of a offshore renewables Transition Piece (TP), crew accessed the TP and discovered that the cover plate of the lifting trunnion had fallen off and […]
MSF: Dropped object during cargo discharge operations
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 21-14 relating to a dropped object during cargo discharge operations. What happened A cargo ship loaded with cargo for the renewables […]
Snagged load, a sling snaps, dropped objects: persons injured
The Britannia P&I Club has shared Incident Case Study No.9 relating to how two crew members on a general cargo ship were injured when a suspended load fell and struck […]
MAIB: Crush fatality during lifting operations
The UK MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Branch) has published Report 12/2021 into a fatal crush accident which occurred while a gantry crane was moving a hatch cover, on board the […]
Serious incident: topsides started swinging during lifting
What happened During lifting operations, a topsides connected to pre-tensioned rigging became unstable and prematurely lifted off its substructure. Two rope access technicians were on the substructure at the time […]
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