MCA has published Safety Flash 6/26

Click here to download the IMCA Safety Flash 6/26.

BSEE: Crane incident leads to serious facial injuries

The crew onboard a lift boat (jack-up barge)were using the crane and rigging, to pull a 18cm (7”) casing from a well. They drilled holes in the casing, inserted a lifting pin, and attached it to the crane’s auxiliary hoist line with a two-part sling and D-rings. The crane lifted the casing until it got stuck. After setting the slips, the crew cut and removed a section, drilled new holes, and re-inserted the lifting pin for another lift. They then used the crane’s main hoist to try to pull the stuck casing. The lifting pin was attached to the main block, and two workers stood next to the casing, ready to remove the slips when the casing moved upward.

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MSF: High potential near miss during FRC maintenance

On a vessel, work was being conducted on a change-out of lifting slings on one of the Fast Rescue craft (FRC). This was considered a routine task that had been conducted many times at sea before, and it all appeared to be going well. During the change out of the lifting slings the FRC slipped from the davit cradle whilst two crew members were actually onboard the boat. The FRC went into an uncontrolled descent to sea with both crew members having to jump into the water clear of the falling boat. Both persons were recovered unharmed.

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Person injured when pry bar slipped

During trenching operations, one of the tracks on a tracked vehicle became dislodged from the drive sprocket, whilst traversing difficult ground. Two crew began the task of refitting the track over the drive sprocket. The link pin on the track could not be accessed to split the track so, with deteriorating weather, the crew used pry bars on either side of the track to try to lift it and align it in place. During the task, the crew member who was applying downward pressure to their pry bar to lift the track, fell towards the deck when the pry bar slipped from the track, contacting the deck with their right hand. The crew member attended a local clinic who confirmed a fracture to the knuckle on the right hand.

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Dropped object – strop parted over sharp edge

During a yard stay, a spare crane cylinder weighing 8.6 tons was being lifted by the yard crane. The rigging arrangement consisted of a 5-ton soft strop (round sling) laid double, using a firehose as a “sock” for edge protection. When the cylinder was lifted to a height of approximately 6 metres over deck of the vessel, the sharp steel edges of the cylinder cut through the firehose protection and caused the strop to part. The cylinder fell to the main deck, went straight through it and landed in the cement room below. Whilst no personnel were injured, painters were working near the open moonpool nearby, resulting in a high-potential near miss.

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MAIB: Sinking of tug Biter with loss of two lives

On 24 February 2023, the twin screw conventional tug Biter girted and capsized off Greenock, Scotland while attached to the stern of the passenger vessel Hebridean Princess, which was making its approach to James Watt Dock. Biter’s two crew were unable to escape from the capsized vessel and lost their lives.

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