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Dropped object near-miss: Crane rest damage

A member has reported an incident in which a section of H-beam steel plate fell from a crane boom rest.  The incident occurred during the booming up of the vessel’s aft crane.  The main hook “headache ball” or hook snagged the adjoining twin fall main block storage structure H Beam (Photo 1).  This caused a 50 cm section of storage structure H-beam steel plate to be damaged (Photo 2).  The H-beam section, weighing 20 kg, fell 40-50 cm into the main hook bucket which is 2 m in depth (Photo 3).  There was a risk potential for the steel plate to have fallen 4.3 m to the vessel deck area below.

Aft crane
Aft crane
Section of H-beam (post collision with headache ball and hook)
Section of H-beam (post collision with headache ball and hook)
Section of damaged H-beam
Section of damaged H-beam

Further investigation of this incident is on-going.  Our member’s initial investigation revealed the following:

  • No Banksman in place for removing the crane from the rest;
  • Ineffective communications between the crane operator and the banksman.

Safety Event

Published: 29 November 2016
Download: IMCA SF 34/16

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