What happened After completing a standard diving activity for underwater hull cleaning on a pilot boat, the diver used the quayside fender to embark from the jetty to the pilot […]
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
Line of fire near miss – almost a head injury
During cable trans-spooling operations, someone almost suffered a very serious head injury. What happened? Whilst a messenger rope (a mooring line) was being pulled across from a cable vessel to […]
Rope under tension parted on deck
What happened A wire rope parted under tension and struck someone’s helmet. There was no injury. The incident occurred during preparation for a shore-side pull of an export cable; the […]
Portable electrical equipment – serious fire in the accommodation
What happened? A member reports a serious fire in the accommodation on a vessel at anchor. There was no injury nor loss of life, but there was significant and costly […]
NTSB: collision leading to loss of life and damage
The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB) has published Marine Accident Brief 21/16 relating to a collision on the Mississippi river in January 2020. The collision led […]
LTI: three fingers badly cut while handling a long brass bar
What happened? A crewman on a vessel suffered laceration on three fingers of the left hand while attempting to remove brass bar from the storage rack. The injury caused an […]
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 […]
UK HSE: employee scalped when hair trapped in a pillar drill
What happened The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined a company after an employee received scalping injuries when her hair became entangled in a pillar drill. Press release […]
Stuck emergency hatch freed
What happened? It was discovered, during an inspection onboard, that the emergency escape hatch leading from the steering gear compartment to the main deck walkway on the starboard side, was […]
Failure of in-service saturation bailout bottle
What happened? During saturation diving operations, Diver 1 reported his bailout bottle pressure dropped. A leak was observed by diver 2 but the origin was uncertain. Diver 1 returned to […]
Electrician suffered flash burn to hand
What happened A third-party electrician on a vessel in dry dock got burnt whilst verifying the integrity of insulation on a 690 Volt bus bar. A voltaic arc was created […]
MSF: Hand Injury Sustained During Routine Checks
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 21-13 relating to a hand injury sustained during routine activities. What happened? During routine weekly checks, someone was performing tests for […]
NTSB – Safer Seas Digest 2020
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of the United States has published their SAFER SEAS Digest 2020, being lessons learned from marine accident investigations. The NTSB determines the probable cause […]
LTI: person injured when hook parted during lifting operations
What happened Two crew were stood under a 3m depth skid of a cable installation plough calibrating it when part of the rigging holding the plough parted causing it to […]
UK HSE: Employee fatally injured while moving heavy equipment
The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has fined a company an employee was fatally injured while moving heavy machinery. Press release here. What happened Workers were moving a large […]
Failed lifting equipment: fatality during pipe erection activities
A member passes us information relating to a non-IMCA fatality at an oil refinery. Lifting equipment failed and a wire rope hit a crew member, causing injuries which proved fatal. […]
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 […]
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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