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Play your part in improving workplace safety. Browse our extensive catalogue of Safety Alerts and Learnings to learn from the experiences of industry colleagues.

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Successful rescue of surfer on the open sea

The crew of a small pilot boat at sea spotted a surfer in distress. The skipper of the boat approached the area and using the vessel's megaphone communicated with the surfer who acknowledged that he was in distress. The MOB ramp was then deployed so that the surfer could safely board the boat. After…

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Incident during rig decommissioning leads to fatality

Two men were working as demolition operatives, also known as “Top Men”, undertaking the decommissioning and dismantlement of offshore structures which had been brought ashore. The two workers were removing an overhanging piece of metal pipework (known as a skirt pile), weighing in excess of 27 tonne…

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Dropped sheave and clump weight

A high potential dropped object incident occurred when a sheave weighing 204kg fell 64m to deck, and a clump weight weighing 700kg fell onto equipment causing damage. There were no injuries. The incident occurred during routine installation activities for a wind turbine monopile. A spreader bar with…

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AC vent unit cover dislodged and fell 1.7m

On a pipelay tower, the AC cover of a capstan electrical cabinet became detached and fell approximately 1.7 meters. The cover was found resting on a cable attached to the platform and diagonal tubular brace. There were no injuries. However, there was potential risk to individuals working nearby. Our…

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Main Crane failure during load test

While performing the overload load test at maximum load plus 10% on a heavy lifting offshore crane, a major failure occurred. At maximum load, the crane main block wires broke and the testing load (two cargo barges) fell, along with the main block, into the water. As a result of the loss of load, th…

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Driving - Loss of Load

A truck carrying a load of cardboard cartons arrived at a regional supply base. Each carton weighed about 22kg. The total load weighed approximately 470kg. Upon arrival at the supply base it was noticed that the load had shifted during transit, with cartons partially spread across the deck of the t…

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Poor Equipment Design & Human Error

Electro-magnetic on magdrill accidently turned off, which released the tool from its position and entrapped the operator’s hand between the tool and bottom joining plate. Poor ergonomic design of button controls enables an easy and mistaken pressing of the wrong button. Above each button is a symbo…

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Damage to Wireline Unit During Supply Boat Operations

Whilst backloading a container to a supply vessel using the platform crane, it touched down to the supply vessel deck, a secured door unexpectedly opened on the container and then the stern deck of the supply vessel immediately dropped. When the vessel came back up, the door impacted an adjacent pip…

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Lifting - Person in Line of Fire

A 60 metre, 3-inch diameter bunkering hose was being uncoiled by lifting one end with a crane at an offshore processing facility. During this activity, the hose parted at the breakaway coupling in the middle of the hose. The upper half remained attached to the crane whip (auxiliary) line via the ho…

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Inappropriate automatic activation of fixed fire-fighting system

The fixed firefighting system in the engine room on a harbour tug automatically activated and all the gas in the tanks emptied. This occurred after two consecutive blackouts on the tug within 24 hours. No-one was harmed. To view this IMCA safety alert in full, click the 'Download Alert' button above…

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Safety pins left in fire suppression system – high potential near miss

The incident occurred following a major refit / dry docking. The vessel departed port and sailed to its area of operation to complete the works and prepare for being commercially available. On arrival, the Flag State carried out an inspection of the vessel and found that all of the CO2 bottles for t…

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Urgent inspection of pressurised carbon dioxide fire fighting systems

Coins were found inserted into CO2 fire fighting cylinders. During a 10-year third party specialist inspection of a vessel CO2 fire suppression system, coins of Chinese manufacture were found inserted in 21 out of 24 main 45 kg CO2 cylinders. These coins were found blanketing high-pressure hoses, po…