MSF – two recent dropped object incidents

Incident 1: What happened

A breakaway coupling became a dropped object. It fell unnoticed to deck on a semi-submersible accommodation vessel. Later investigation identified where the breakaway coupling had fallen from. Another coupling was found with early signs of failure, with one of the breakaway studs found loose and able to be moved around freely.

Incident 2: What happened

A barrier tape mechanism handle weighing 278g fell 45m from an offshore platform onto the deck of a supply vessel. During routine supply vessel operations, a deck crew person on an offshore platform was establishing barriers for safe lifting of cargo onto the platform’s weather deck.

On extraction of the fixed barrier tape the handle was seen to eject from the mechanism and fall, eventually landing 45m below onto the deck of a supply vessel. Whilst nobody on the supply vessel was on the deck at the time, this had the potential to have been a fatality.

To view this IMCA/Marine Safety Forum safety alert in full, click the 'Download Alert' button above and refer to section 5 of the document.