IMCA release Safety Flash SF 23/24
IMCA release the latest safety flash SF 23/24. You can view all safety flashes on the IMCA website here
BSEE: recurring hand injuries from alternative cutting devices
The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published Safety Alert 487 relating to an observed trend of recurring hand injuries while using alternative cutting devices.
What happened?
Incident 1: While running a new cable in a cable tray, an offshore worker was using a cutter to remove previously installed zip ties. Although the protective tip of the cutter was damaged, exposing the blade, the offshore worker continued to use the damaged cutting device. The exposed blade cut through the worker’s glove, causing a laceration on the left hand between the thumb and index finger.
Incident 2: An offshore worker sustained a laceration to the back of their hand, between the thumb and index finger, while cutting zip ties. The incident occurred when the cutting device rebounded, causing the injury. It was found that the protective guard over the blade was missing, leaving the blade exposed (Figure 2).
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What happened?
Whilst cutting the 10cm diameter stump, sparks and slag (hot work discharge) dropped into the hole in the deck and fell to a thruster room directly below, onto scaffolding boards and onto a 600V HV electrical cable. There were some burn and scuff marks caused. Vessel engine room crew in the affected area noticed the falling sparks from above, and further identified that there was no fire watcher available in the vicinity. The job was stopped immediately.
What went wrong?
- Less than adequate risk perception:
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- The third-party contractor failed to perform an assessment of the affected worksite conditions below the deck and did not understand the working conditions in the surrounding area.
- No risk assessment was conducted and as a result there were inadequate controls in place.
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Vital safety information (height of vehicle) found incorrect
What happened?
An IMCA member’s contractor in the United States reports an incident in which it was discovered that the “height of vehicle” information displayed on a truck, was found to be incorrect.
What went wrong?
On investigation, it was found that the stamped traveling height on the truck was different from the actual traveling height. The actual traveling height was verified by careful measurement. The truck was stamped with a traveling height of 9 feet and 10 inches (300 cm) but the actual measured traveling height was found to be 10 feet 1 inch (307cm).
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 is one of them.
What happened?
A crane wire on a cargo vessel parted whilst the vessel was offloading a wind turbine nacelle. The nacelle, weighing 69 tonnes, dropped back into the vessel’s cargo hold.
