What happened A lifting saddle broke, causing a hose to swing and hit a crewman, causing an injury to his hand. The incident occurred at completion of cement pumping between […]
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
BSEE: Crewman fell to his death through faulty grating
The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published BSEE Panel Report 2021-001 into a fatal fall from a platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 2019. […]
SIMOPS – Smoke from hot work task enters confined space
What happened On a vessel in dry dock, confined space entry was required for the cleaning of the vessel sewage tanks. Nearby, shipyard workers were removing a section of bulkhead […]
Electric shock due to water in electrical equipment
What happened There was an uncontrolled spraying of fresh water from a sounding pipe in the galley, resulting in electrical equipment getting wet. As a result someone got an electric […]
Crane wire parted during offshore operations
What happened? A concrete mattress was being deployed as part of the construction of a pipeline crossing. As the load was swung outboard and before it entered the water, the […]
Bypassing safety controls – violation of working at height requirements
What went wrong On a vessel in dry dock, painting of the the hull was ongoing, using the shipyard crane and a personnel basket. During this work process it was […]
Sludge Accumulation in Fresh Water Tank
During inspection of a fresh water tank, it was discovered that there was significant sludge accumulation in the tank. Based on the condition of the tank, it was seen as […]
Lead-acid battery explosion
What happened A lead-acid battery blew up when an engine was started. The incident occurred when, after conducting pre-start checks on a generator, the 2nd Engineer attempted to start the […]
Inappropriate use of pneumatic line thrower for mooring line
What happened During mooring operations crew on a vessel used a pneumatic line thrower (PLT) to throw a mooring line. Several attempts were made, of which one was successful. Two […]
Disabled audible alarm on fire alarm panel
What happened During routine testing of the fire alarm, it was observed that the Fire Alarm panel was not emitting an audible alarm – there was only a flashing light […]
MAIB: Fatal accident during cargo operations on Karina C
The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has published accident its investigation report into a fatal crush incident during lifting operations on the general cargo vessel Karina C on 24 […]
MSF: Near miss – potential dropped object found on bundle of casing
The Marine Safety Forum published Safety Alert 20-11 relating to a potential dropped object in a load. The near miss incident occurred during offloading of casing from a supply vessel. […]
Injury to Fingers During Grinding Activity
What happened Someone was performing maintenance activities with a grinder, using the grinder to cut and shape wood. When he finished, he switched off the grinder and placed on deck. […]
Vessel Near Miss with wellhead
A vessel had a near miss with a wellhead within the 500m zone. The vessel Master was preoccupied and did not notice that the vessel was drifting close to the […]
How PPE works – a reminder
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published two recent incidents in which failure to wear PPE was a factor. In the first, there was deliberate failure to wear PPE where […]
Unexpected truck movement caused rigger to fall off a ladder
An unexpected movement of a container loaded truck during disconnection of the container’s rigging, caused a rigger to fall off a ladder leaning against the container. Two containers were being […]
LTI Incident – Crew Struck by Cargo During Lifting Operations
What happened During routine cargo operation on the main deck, crew were unlashing the load (an empty pipe container) when the crane operator lifted the load without warning. One crewman […]
Injury caused by closing fire flap
What happened? A crewman was injured when there was an uncontrolled and unplanned closure of a fire flap. The crewman was filling an expansion tank through the engine room ventilation […]
Man overboard incident (not fatal)
What happened A man overboard incident occurred, in port at night. A rigger on the main deck, walking around spools secured to the main deck, stepped off the side of […]
Air cylinders – differences in working pressure and valve types
What happened? There was confusion when the wrong kind of cylinders for SCBA sets were supplied. A vendor supplied 6.8 litre 300 bar cylinders instead of 9 litre 200 bar […]
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