What happened During saturation diving activities at 65m water depth, from a Diving Support Vessel (DSV), a diver was exposed to a sudden and unplanned release of hydrocarbon gas under […]
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
Dropped object – wooden packing block
What happened During pipelaying operations, a wooden packing block (approx. 1kg) became attached to the pipe whilst spooling off the reel. It crossed the main deck and entered the pipelay […]
BSEE: person fell through open hatch
What happened The United States’ Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 489 relating to a person who was injured after a fall through an open […]
NTSB: Fire on vessel – escaped exhaust gases
The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB) published “Safer Seas Digest 2023”, which includes a number of incidents which may be of interest to IMCA members. This […]
Snagging hazards
A member reports two unrelated incidents in which a causal factor was something getting caught or snagged in an unplanned way. Incident 1: Corner of a container got snagged On […]
Main Crane failure during load test
What happened? While performing the overload load test at maximum load plus 10% on a heavy lifting offshore crane, a major failure occurred. At maximum load, the crane main block […]
AC vent unit cover dislodged and fell 1.7m
What happened On a pipelay tower, the AC cover of a capstan electrical cabinet became detached and fell approximately 1.7 meters. The cover was found resting on a cable attached […]
Dropped sheave and clump weight
What happened A high potential dropped object incident occurred when a sheave weighing 204kg fell 64m to deck, and a clump weight weighing 700kg fell onto equipment causing damage. There […]
UK HSE: Incident during rig decommissioning leads to fatality
The United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published a press release relating to an incident whilst decommissioning a North Sea gas rig, in which one person died and […]
Positive: successful rescue of surfer on the open sea
What happened The crew of a small pilot boat at sea spotted a surfer in distress. The skipper of the boat approached the area and using the vessel’s megaphone communicated […]
Fire in engine room
What happened A fire occurred in the engine room of a vessel during operations. The fire was first detected by a duty crew member, and the watch team immediately attempted […]
Near Miss: Smoke and fire on Main Engine Exhaust
What happened During sea trials following a docking period, smoke and fire were observed coming from the turbocharger flange to the exhaust manifold of one of the engines. What went […]
Urgent inspection of pressurised carbon dioxide fire fighting systems
What happened? Coins were found inserted into CO2 fire fighting cylinders. During a 10-year third party specialist inspection of a vessel CO2 fire suppression system, coins of Chinese manufacture were […]
MSF: Safety pins left in fire suppression system – high potential near miss
The Marine Safety Forum has published Safety Alert 24-07 relating to an incident where a Flag State inspection found that all of the CO2 bottles for the engine room fire […]
Inappropriate automatic activation of fixed fire-fighting system
What happened The fixed firefighting system in the engine room on a harbour tug automatically activated and all the gas in the tanks emptied. This occurred after two consecutive blackouts […]
NTSB: Fire on vessel – escaped exhaust gases
The National Transportation Safety Board of the United States (NTSB) published “Safer Seas Digest 2023”, which includes a number of incidents which may be of interest to IMCA members. This […]
Man overboard during motion compensated gangway transfer
What happened? An offshore worker fell overboard from a height of one metre while transferring from a platform to a vessel (non-DP) via a motion compensated gangway. The incident occurred […]
UK HSE: fall from height injury at container port
What happened The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a logistics company after a worker fell over 10 metres and sustained serious injuries. The worker fell through an […]
Tampering with approved safety devices
What happened? During a client inspection, the sight glass on a vessel main engine lubricating oil storage tank was found to have been fitted with an unauthorised and homemade ‘clamp’. […]
Injury to little finger – LTI
What happened A worker suffered an injury whilst painting an auxiliary winch drum following maintenance. While performing this work a wooden beam was used to prevent the drum from turning […]
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