What happened? During commissioning activities, a commissioning engineer was found unconscious inside a gas valve unit (GVU). He received CPR and regained consciousness before being transported to the hospital for […]
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
The wear and care of safety helmets
This safety alert is intended to educate and inform people on the correct wear, care and inspection requirements of industrial safety helmets, and to provide guidance on how to check […]
Non-fatal man overboard incident
What happened? A member of the vessel crew fell into the sea during personnel transfer using a Crew Tender Vessel (CTV). The incident occurred when the vessel was stood by […]
Don’t put your finger in the wrong place: failure to isolate equipment causes serious finger injury
What happened? While carrying out work to fix the hydraulic arm of an ROV manipulator, the person involved was trying to adjust the position of the piston to align holes […]
Use of 220V AC power tools and equipment
A member has circulated guidance on the use of 220V AC portable electrical hand tools. This followed reported concerns regarding the use of project and sub-contractor supplied 220V AC power […]
Galley electric shock – uncontrolled portable electrical equipment
What happened? A person cleaning the galley got a mains electric shock; during galley cleaning, the chief cook was using a wet cloth to wipe clean the food preparation areas. […]
Two battery issues – step change
What happened? UK Step Change has published two recent safety ‘moments’ relating to battery safety in two different battery chemistries – the first in a lead/acid battery, the second, in […]
High potential near miss – unsecured sheave
What happened? A hydraulic control lever on a console was inadvertently activated, resulting in the unplanned movement of part of the equipment on a drilling derrick on a vessel. A […]
Dropped load – water
What happened? Riggers were attempting to lift a pallet of bottled water between decks of a vessel when the load hit an Intermediate Bulk Container (IBC), causing several packets of […]
Theft from vessel at anchor
What happened? A vessel was boarded by thieves whilst at anchor at Callao, Peru. This was not noticed by the crew until they went forward to anchor stations to weigh […]
Oxygen service regulators
What happened? It was discovered on several dive sites that regulators being used on high pressure gas quads of greater than 25% oxygen were not actually suitable for oxygen service. […]
Partial pressure of oxygen (PPO₂) getting low in bell
What happened? During saturation diving at approximately 147 msw, the diving supervisor noticed that Partial Pressure of Oxygen (PPOâ‚‚) was getting low in the diving bell. The supervisor instructed the […]
Fatality and multiple injuries: flash fire incident onboard pipelay barge
What happened? During pipelaying activities on a pipelay barge, Injection Moulded Polypropylene (IMPP) equipment at a coating station got stuck. Pipelaying activities were stopped and repair operations were started. The […]
Near miss: fire of electrical distribution board during diving operations
What happened? A barge suffered a total loss of electrical power whilst air diving was in progress. The incident occurred during diving operations at 18 msw, conducted from a third-party […]
Weight dropped to the seabed narrowly missing diving bell
What happened? Before launch of an Air Diving Launch and Recovery System (LARS) from a third-party DSV, the winch wire for the clump weight/guide weight became lodged between the winch […]
Helium gas quad – gas variances across quadrants
What happened? During a planned mobilisation of five Helium gas quads (2% O2, 98% He), one of the gas quads was found to differ from the others. All of the […]
Diver fatality during subsea lifting operations – update
This is the second safety alert concerning the fatal diving incident initially drawn to members’ attention in IMCA SF 19/18 Diver fatality during subsea lifting operations. This update specifically relates […]
Unsafe actions and conditions – inhibited alarm buttons
What happened? On a vessel safety walk-round, an unsafe condition was found whereby alarm push buttons for acknowledgement/mute were kept pressed using toothpicks and scotch tape. While these were not […]
Slip on wet surface (Marine Safety Forum)
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published Safety Alert 19-02, in which as crew member on bridge duty slipped on a wet area of the deck, landing on his back. […]
Rigger sustains injury to left hand
What happened? A rigger was struck by a lever hoist hook, which led to a restricted work case. The incident occurred during lifting operations and had the potential to have […]
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