IMCA has published Safety Flash 15-23
Click to download the IMCA Safety Flash 15-23 here
1 Lifting chains parted – hydrogen embrittlement
What happened
Three of four lifting chains on a load parted while the load was being lifted. The incident occurred in the last lift of
sections of grillage from a vessel involved in project demobilisation. At the time of the incident, the grillage was
suspended, above the deck, by approximately 4m. Following a discussion between the Deck Foreman and the Crane
Operator, the grillage was slowly lowered down to the deck. There were no injuries.
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2 Davit hook failures
What happened
A member reports two separate instances where a workboat davit hook, and life raft davit hook components, have
failed.
• Incident 1: During a weekly inspection of lifesaving equipment, the workboat davit hook on one vessel failed
resulting in the hook releasing and dropping the workboat to the sea. No persons were in the workboat at the
time and there were no injuries. However, the workboat itself was badly damaged.
• Incident 2: A subsequent inspection of similar davit hooks on a sister vessel found the top shaft screw had
sheared on a life raft davit hook, with the nut having dropped to deck. The shaft remained in place, holding the
hook in position.
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3 Sheave became detached during lifting operations
What happened
During recovery operations of marine geophysical sensors, a sheave parted
from a swivel connection on the A-frame. The sheave fell approximately 6m to
the deck below. No personnel were underneath the sheave, however had the
sheave struck an individual, it could have caused serious injury.
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4 Near Miss: personnel transfer basket hit structure
What happened
During a transfer of two personnel to a platform using the vessel crane, the base bumper
of the personnel transfer basket came into contact with the helipad netting rail of the
platform. At the time of the incident, an unexpected wave caused the vessel to roll and
resulted in the subsequent vertical movement of the vessel crane tip.
The contact was slight and there were no injuries nor damage to equipment reported, however, it was identified
that a more serious incident could have occurred in different circumstances.
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5 BSEE: A warning on tagline entanglement
What happened
The United States Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published
Safety Alert 461 relating to recent tagline entanglements which have resulted in several
High Potential near misses.
BSEE notes: “Since November 2022, there have been four incidents during offshore operations involving personnel
becoming entangled in taglines and lifted with the load. Despite the high potential for injury surrounding the events
and operations, none of the occurrences resulted in an injury. Similar situations were previously discussed in BSEE
Safety Alert 362, Poor Tag Line Awareness Leads to Multiple Incidents.
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