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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.

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All members are encouraged to contribute relevant safety-related information – please visit our Safety Flash Reporting page for details on the submission process.

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Nicholas Hough
Consultant - Safety and Security
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Line of fire injury – Man struck in face by hammer

The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has published a safety flash regarding an incident where a man was struck inadvertently in the face with a hammer, leading to ‘recordable’ […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 16/15

Cargo contamination causing LTIs during clean-up

A member has reported an incident in which there was contamination of liquid cargo on an offshore support vessel. The incident led to a week-long cleaning operation in which a […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 16/15

Older “Norfolk Range” powder extinguishers from before 2009

The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published the following alert regarding a fault in older ‘Norfolk Range’ large dry powder fire extinguishers, manufactured in the United Kingdom before […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 16/15

Spillage of methanol during cargo operations

A member has reported an incident in which the valve on a cargo tank was damaged, causing a leak of approximately 1000 litres of methanol. The incident occurred during cargo […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 15/15

Incidents involving poor crane operations

A member has reported a number of recent incidents resulting from poor crane operations on the part of the crews of platforms, barges and other installations operated by third parties, […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 15/15


Electrician fatally electrocuted

An on-call electrician from the maintenance department was called and to check on a malfunction at a land-based oil installation. Besides checking the wells, he also went to the substation […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Confined space fatality in shipyard

A rope access worker lost his life in a fatal incident at a fabrication site. The rope access worker was tasked to descend into a 90cm diameter and 30m depth […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Dropped object near-miss: ROV wire rope

Crew were aligning an ROV to the guide wires on the starboard aft ROV deck of a vessel. While doing this the ROV dome contacted the forward guide wire and […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Dropped object near-miss: Lifting

During the lifting of twelve lightweight steel plates (2m x 15-30cm) width from ground level to a vessel work platform at 35 m elevation, the load shifted during the transfer […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Crewman struck by sling during anchor handling operations

An anchor had been transferred from one vessel to another. The crane operator slacked the sling so that it could be disconnected from the anchor. Two crewmen were walking towards […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Electrical shock – Failure of isolations and barriers

A crew member was testing 240V cables as part of re-terminating a replacement motor. There was some isolation in place, with equipment partly out of the racks for testing by […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15

Fall from height in a confined space

An employee fell from a ladder while descending into a well cellar to remove tie rods on the cellar wall. The initial report states that the injured person removed his […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 14/15


Fire hydrants fitted with incorrect coupling size

A member has reported an incident in which replacement fire hydrants were found to be fitted with incorrect coupling sizes, leading to them being incompatible with fire hose couplings. This […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 13/15


Grounding and flooding of ferry – complacency

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published a report into the grounding and flooding of the ro-ro (‘roll on roll off’) ferry Commodore Clipper in the Channel Islands […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 13/15

Thermal tunnel buoyancy when deployed subsea

A member has reported an incident in which buoyancy problems were encountered with equipment being deployed subsea. During light subsea construction operations conducted from a DSV, there was a requirement […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 12/15

Confined space entry fatalities

The Nautical Institute has published a safety bulletin regarding the death of five persons in a confined space entry incident. The incident occurred when a pontoon was beached at an […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 12/15

Collision between crew boat and anchored barge

A member has reported an incident in which there was a collision between a crew boat and an anchored barge. The incident occurred following bunkering, when a crew boat departed […]

| Included in IMCA Safety Flash 12/15

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