What happened A crew member suffered from Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning during oxy-acetylene brazing. The incident occurred when the crew member was involved in the repair of a broken valve, […]
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
Uncertified lifting gear found in use
What happened A number of shackles and other lifting equipment were observed in use onboard a vessel with no certification or inspection reports available. Some equipment was colour coded by […]
Small fire following hot work
What happened On a member’s vessel alongside, a small fire started following hot work conducted by the client’s welding sub-contractors. The incident occurred during the welding of jumper stands on […]
LTI: finger injury during davit test
What happened A worker suffered a serious finger injury when his hand got caught between a painter rope under tension and the handrail. The incident occurred during testing of the […]
Near miss: pilot ladder – side rope failed
What happened Whilst undertaking pilot boarding operations during the hours of darkness, a side rope on the pilot ladder parted when it was being weight tested by the pilot. The […]
Serious hand injury (MSF)
What happened The MSF reports in Safety Alert 22-12 an incident involving an inadvertent self-inflicted finger injury. This serious injury was sustained while someone was replacing a knife into its […]
Blocked emergency exit hatch
What happened An engine room emergency exit hatch could not be opened. The emergency exit hatch providing egress from the engine room to the vessel’s main deck on the starboard […]
Incorrect gangway rigging
What happened A member reports several cases of gangways being rigged incorrectly. Incident 1 What went wrong What was put right Lessons learned Incident 2 What went wrong A Platform […]
Near miss: load lifted without notice putting crew in the line of fire
What happened During cargo operation at an offshore installation, the deck foreman on the installation noticed that a sling was twisted while starting to heave up a cargo. An AB […]
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 […]
Oil tank sight glass push buttons wired open
What happened On a visit to an engine room, a serious bypassing of safety controls was observed. Both top and bottom level check push buttons on an Oil Tank Sight […]
Near miss: pipe dropped from pipe supports
What happened During the cleaning of a section of pipe at a third-party facility, the pipe rolled off the pipe support easels and dropped to the floor. There was no […]
LTI: Foot trapped between pipes
What happened During pipe handling operations a rigger positioned himself at the pipe’s bottom layer gap. A pipe from the upper layer rolled down into the space on the bottom […]
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 […]
MAIB: Flooding and sinking of the survey workboat Bella
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published Report 10/22 into the flooding and sinking of the survey workboat Bella. The boat flooded and sank while carrying out hydrographic survey […]
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 […]
MAIB: mv Teal Bay mooring fatality
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch has published Report 9/2022 relating to a mooring deck fatality on board a cargo vessel in August 2021. Of interest in that this may […]
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 […]
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 […]
Failure to plan properly: electrician sustains serious burns (UK HSE)
Following a UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, a retail company was fined £1,000,000 after an electrician suffered serious burns to 15 per cent of his body when he […]
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