What happened? On a vessel that was alongside, crew were engaged in offloading equipment from below-decks through a series of hatches, when their supervisor lost his footing and fell through […]
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
Technical Adviser - HSSE and Offshore Survey
Contact
Safety Events
Worker suffers hand injury
What happened? The UK Health & Safety Executive (UK HSE) reports that a company was fined after a worker suffered a serious hand injury after a machinery incident. The incident […]
Chemical spill leads to costly deck replacement
What happened? The USCG has published Marine Safety Alert 01-17 relating to hazards from chemical spills. USCG inspectors found several cracks and parted seams in the aluminium braces of the […]
Fuel spray fire – Déjà vu: Prepare and prevent it from happening to you!
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has published Marine Safety Alert 06-17 to bring attention to ‘yet another fuel spray fire’. The USCG notes that “these types of incidents, involving […]
LTI: Crewman burnt in fire following release of flammable gas from hand rail
What happened? A mechanic was drilling a 3.5mm hole into the access stair handrail of a rescue craft, in order to install a safety barrier clip. When the drill bit […]
LTI: Burn to hand while working in laundry
What happened? UK Step Change in Safety has published an alert in which a member of the crew suffered a burnt hand whilst working in the laundry. The person put […]
LTI: Finger injury during pilot ladder preparation
What happened? An Ordinary Seaman was injured while rigging the pilot ladder during arrival in port. In preparation before rigging the ladder, a floodlight was being lowered by the crewman. […]
LTI: Hand injury resulting from clothing catching on door
What happened? Crew were standing down from mooring stations after a vessel left port. One crewman was passing through a heavy door, when the left sleeve of his overalls got […]
Near-miss: Snagged lifting bridle
What happened The MSF has published Safety Alert 17-03 in which lifting rigging got snagged on an open top mini basket type unit. The incident occurred on a platform supply […]
Collared eyebolts as lifting equipment
What happened? NOPSEMA has published Alert 64 relating to the failure of collared eyebolts when used for lifting. A piece of equipment was being lifted during maintenance and repair, when […]
High potential near-miss: Mooring rope parted
What happened? Mooring buoy rope parted while the vessel was moored. No injuries or damage to the vessel occurred apart from the parted mooring rope. The potential severity of incident […]
Near-miss: Fault spotted in subsea lifting wire
What happened? During diving operations at 10 msw, it was noticed that there was a slight gap in the lay of the diver launch and recovery (LARS) clump weight wire. […]
Equipment failure leading to crane collapse
What happened? A vessel was tied up in port alongside another vessel (double banked). An attempt was made to lift a 20′ freight container cabin from a truck, onto the […]
Near-misses during diving operations
Incident 1: diving bell nearly carried into subsea lifting equipment During a bell run at 90msw a task was completed and the diving support vessel (DSV) needed to relocate to […]
Near-miss: Broken chain on self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat (SPHL) recovery rigging
What happened? A self-propelled hyperbaric lifeboat (SPHL) was being lifted to the main deck for an hyperbaric reception facility (HRF) mating trial. During this activity, the aft lifting chain on […]
Both anchors lost due to chain fouling
What happened? A vessel had used both anchors whilst waiting for 3 days off the coast. Both chains were fouled and could not be cleared by the vessel. External assistance […]
Engine room emergency hatch damage
What happened? An anchor handling tug supply (AHTS) vessel, whilst towing a barge, encountered heavy seas (wind on the beam, 25 knots, waves, 2m) and began to roll heavily. In […]
Failure of casting: Foundation brackets for steering gear
What happened? Damage was reported to the steering gear hydraulic ram foundation brackets connecting the ram to the structure of the vessel. The foundation bracket casting failed. What went wrong? […]
Huge leak discovered in fresh water system
What happened? Daily soundings of fresh water tanks on a vessel revealed that they were emptying fast – 35 tonnes over 24 hours. A thorough check was conducted of all […]
Fatal fall aboard tanker Marinor
The Accident Investigation Branch of Norway (AIBN) has published incident 17-04 on the fatal fall of a seafarer on board a Norwegian registered tanker. Whilst the vessel was at sea […]
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