What happened? During re-rigging of heavy lifting gear, two riggers were holding the crane hook upright, another three were holding the shackle, and a sixth crewman was holding the shackle […]
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
Person accidentally drank hazardous substance: Unmarked bottle
What happened? A third-party agent was on board a vessel during port clearance formalities. On the bridge, there was a mineral water bottle from which this person took a swallow. […]
Catastrophic fire and explosion on nearby vessel
What happened? A vessel was double-banked alongside engaged with routine maintenance jobs, when a fire broke out on a vessel transporting a petroleum product which was berthed alongside at a […]
Near-miss: Fire hazard from leaking fuel supply line
What happened? A potential fire hazard was discovered, caused by a failed fuel pipe connection on the supply line to the main engines. The Chief Engineer was called to engine […]
Battery fire
What happened? The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) reports an incident in which, during the early hours of the morning during a period of adverse weather, the fire alarm in the […]
Dangerous modifications found within a gas valve unit room
Don’t allow corrective actions to create additional hazardous conditions! The USCG has issued Safety Alert 05-17 to warn of a potentially dangerous situation involving modifications within gas valve unit (GVU) […]
Galley fire: Failure to follow stove/oven installation instructions
What happened? The United States Coastguard (USCG) has published Marine Safety Alert 02-17, relating to a fire on an offshore platform. A manufacturer had improperly installed a commercial grade electric […]
How PPE works: Fire and thermal protection
What happened? The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published a report of a fire on an offshore production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in […]
High potential near-miss: Incorrectly secured overhead equipment
What happened? During operations, it was observed that the connecting shackle pins on two separate items of overhead equipment (fall arrest inertia reels) were loose and could have become detached. […]
Near-miss: Multiple potential dropped objects discovered during loading of spooling unit
What happened? A vessel loaded a spooling unit and other cargo onto a platform. After lifting operations were completed, the platform reported that multiple potential dropped objects (total 19 items) […]
Dropped object: Lay tower adjuster leg pin
What Happened The securing pin from a Tiltable Lay System (TLS) adjuster leg, weighing 600 kg, fell 16m to deck. The incident occurred when the keeper plate bolts slackened off. […]
LTI as a result of load dropped from lifting magnet
What happened? A load dropped from a permanent lifting magnet hit a person’s hand resulting in an LTI. Polished metal elements had to be lifted a few centimetres with a […]
Dropped object injury: Equipment shifted when it was incorrectly unsecured
What happened? On a cable laying vessel, a cable quadrant had been rigged on the bulwarks, seated in a pedestal mounting and secured via lashings on the outboard side. Normal […]
LTI: Contact with refrigerant gas causing hand injury
What happened? An engineer suffered a freezing burn to his hand when there was a leak of refrigerant gas while he was refilling a vessel’s central air conditioning (AC) system. […]
Line parting as a result of socket failure during grapnel operations
A member has reported an incident in which a line parted during grapnel operations. The incident occurred as grapnels were being recovered during attempts to snag, capture and recover a […]
Near-miss: Incorrect rigging of life raft hydrostatic release
IMCA’s attention has been drawn to a near miss in which it was found that the hydrostatic release on a life raft was not correctly rigged. This was discovered following […]
Damage to rescue boat during lowering
A member has reported an incident in which a rescue boat (FRC) was damaged as a result of it being lowered in its davit during a scheduled drill. During the […]
Unsecured cargo inside containers
Two incidents are highlighted here in which cargo was damaged because it was not properly secured. Incident 1 A member has reported an incident in which cargo weighing 1.5 tonnes […]
More than a dropped object – the need for vigilance during cargo operations
UK Step Change in Safety has published a ‘Safety Moment’ describing an incident in which a car travelling along a road near a port was struck by an object. It […]
Near-miss: Gas release from subsea pipeline
A member has reported a near miss incident in which there was an unplanned release of gas from a subsea pipeline, when divers were working nearby. A vessel was engaged […]
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