Safety Flash

01/25 – January 2025

IMCA Safety Flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing lessons to be more easily learnt for the benefit of all.
The effectiveness of the IMCA Safety Flash system depends on members sharing information and so avoiding repeat incidents.
Please consider adding safetyreports@[Link] to your internal distribution list for safety alerts or manually submitting
information on incidents you consider may be relevant. All information is anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate.

1 Safety Flashes – a review of 2024

This is a short summary of the 24 IMCA Safety Flashes published during 2024. All the published safety events or
incidents are available on the IMCA website as individual web pages at [Link]
[Link]/resources/safety/safety-flashes/. IMCA members can sign up to receive Safety Flash emails. These
comprise links to a number of events or incidents (usually 5) and a link to all the events collected together as a PDF.

The 24 Flashes covered 88 individual incidents or events shared by IMCA members. A further 33 incidents or events
from information already in the public domain, from different trade bodies and/or regulators, were shared as being
of interest. It should be noted that Safety Flashes are intended to be read by our members’ offshore crews, and by
office-based safety professionals.

IMCA Safety Flashes are aligned with the IOGP Life-saving Rules. In 2024, 31% of our members’ reported incidents
or events involved the “Line of Fire” rule. 24% were “By-passing Safety Controls”. For completeness it should be
noted that an incident or event might fall under more than one IOGP Life-saving Rule – or under none at all.
♦ Line of Fire: Of the 27 events or incidents reported by members that were categorised under “Line of Fire”,
three were LTIs. There were ten hand, arm or finger injuries – all the LTIs under Line of Fire were finger injuries.
Hand and fingers injuries remains a concern, and looking closely at safety promotional material in this area
will be a priority.
♦ By-passing Safety Controls: In the 21 events or incidents reported by members, we see occurrences such as
an unauthorised entry into confined space, misuse of tools, watertight doors left open, carriage of Dangerous
Goods by vessel without proper certification, and approved safety devices being tampered with.
♦ Safe Mechanical Lifting: Seven events – some of which will also be line of fire issues and/or equipment failure
issues – were reported. There were two cases of crew being caught on lines during lifting operations, one
snagged by a tag line, the other, pulled to deck by a crane whip line catching on fall arrest equipment.
♦ Working at Height: Six events broke the Working at height rule. Two of these involved unauthorised working
at height in a confined space, and one of these was a case where someone was prevented from working at
height doing hot work in a confined space! The importance of crew being able and willing to exercise STOP
WORK AUTHORITY cannot be understated.
♦ Other issues
− Failure of equipment: There were six incidents where failure of equipment was an immediate cause. A
trend worth highlighting, possibly, is that two of these involved significant structural failure of small boats
– fortunately with no persons actually in them at the time.
− Dropped or falling objects were reported on 13 occasions, including a Pipeline End Manifold yoke
dropped, a lifting beam fell when a strop parted, cargo was dropped during lifting operations, and
equipment dropped or fell over on several occasions.

IMCA store terms and conditions ([Link] apply to all downloads from IMCA’s website, including this document.
IMCA makes every effort to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the data contained in the documents it publishes, but IMCA shall not be liable for any guidance and/or
recommendation and/or statement herein contained. The information contained in this document does not fulfil or replace any individual’s or Member's legal, regulatory
or other duties or obligations in respect of their operations. Individuals and Members remain solely responsible for the safe, lawful and proper conduct of their operations.
© 2025 Page 1 of 5
A deeper dive into the safety events reported by our members may be worth taking at a later stage. In the interests
of members getting a shorter summary, we will stop here and simply provide members with a useful list of the
incidents published during the year.

2 The Safety Flashes of 2024

Reference Items Published
IMCA SF 01/24 ♦ Diver in the bell hit by falling object Jan-24
♦ Divers lifted off seabed by Clump Weight
♦ Leak in hot water system for saturation divers
♦ Chain hoist paid out unsupervised near running main engine
♦ MAIB: Workboat collision with wind turbine platform
IMCA SF 02/24 ♦ Day Signal mast broke off and fell to deck Jan-24
♦ Person injured going down ladder
♦ LTI – forklift knocked spooler bar onto person's leg
♦ MSF: LTI – Engineer scalded
♦ MAIB: Deep fat fryer fire
IMCA SF 03/24 ♦ BSEE: Are your emergency procedures and your emergency equipment good Feb-24
enough?
♦ High potential: navigation near offshore wind turbines
♦ Failure of self-righting frame on Fast Rescue Craft (FRC)
♦ Fall Protection – Defective Safety Harness
♦ MSF: two dropped object incidents
IMCA SF 04/24 ♦ Unauthorised entry into confined space Feb-24
♦ Hot work whilst working at height in a confined space – job was stopped
♦ BSEE: Confined space entry – tank cleaning
♦ USCG: wire rope hazard management – dropped turbine nacelle
♦ Vessel damaged in contact with platform
IMCA SF 05/24 ♦ Pipeline End Manifold yoke dropped from 45° position Mar-24
♦ LTI: Damage and personal injury arising from heavy weather
♦ Crew Transfer Vessel (CTV) hit protruding scaffolding on a supply vessel
♦ Heavy equipment fell over during manual handling
♦ UK HSE: Crane boom collapse
IMCA SF 06/24 ♦ Person struck and injured during lifting operations Mar-24
♦ Person pulled to deck by fall arrest harness
♦ High potential: sea water inlet pipe leakage in engine room
♦ Security: Illegal boarding – theft while the vessel at anchor
♦ MSF: Chemical Handling – Eye Burn
IMCA SF 07/24 ♦ Loss of heading control on an FPU during diving operations Apr-24
♦ Implosion of chemical tank
♦ USCG: hazard from discarded munitions
♦ Person injured when chain hoist container failed at securing point
♦ LTI: person slipped climbing out of tank

IMCA Safety Flash 01/25 Page 2 of 5

Reference Items Published
IMCA SF 08/24 ♦ Main bell wire rope damaged Apr-24
♦ Main bell wire rope failed destructive test
♦ Lone worker collapsed at onshore site
♦ A reminder on watertight doors
♦ UK HSE: worker injured by falling stack of batteries in Flexible Intermediate
Bulk Containers
IMCA SF 09/24 ♦ Injuries to the eyes and face Apr-24
♦ Trapped finger during mooring operations
♦ Near miss – lid on ash trash barrel blown off due to hot ash
♦ MAIB: Crew member injured by rotating crank handle – LTI
♦ Near miss: dislodged grating with potential fall to sea
IMCA SF 10/24 ♦ Hand and finger injuries May-24
♦ Crewmember suspended above deck by lifting equipment
♦ CTV crew member snagged on tag line and lifted off feet
♦ Engine failure and subsequent engine room fire
♦ BSEE: Welding and Burning Hazards
IMCA SF 11/24 ♦ Dropped lifting beam due to parted soft strop Jun-24
♦ Vessel collided with platform
♦ Diver’s umbilical trapped during a pipeline flooding operation
♦ Stored energy – dislodged pin causes injury
♦ MAIB: Leg injury while mooring
IMCA SF 12/24 ♦ Swinging load after loss of position Jun-24
♦ Dropped welding fume extraction hood
♦ Carriage of Methanol – Dangerous Goods – without proper certification
♦ Personnel exposed to hydrogen sulphide during maintenance
♦ MAIB: Person injured during lifting of compressor
IMCA SF 13/24 ♦ ROV dropped to seabed Jul-24
♦ UK HSE: Service lifts on offshore and onshore wind turbines
♦ Dropped halogen lamp caused small fire
♦ MAIB: Man overboard – unguarded opening
♦ MAIB: A slip into the hold
IMCA SF 14/24 ♦ Loss of pressure to diver’s primary air supply Jul-24
♦ Equipment fell on someone’s leg causing injury
♦ Electric shock after water ingress to switch
♦ Emergency musters and drills
♦ Bunker hose damaged during connection
IMCA SF 15/24 ♦ Side scuttle (porthole) knocked out by wave impact Jul-24
♦ Dropped object: unsecured cargo inside box broke lose and fell
♦ Load lost from lorry on public road – inadequate securing of cargo
♦ Fast Rescue Boat (FRC) comes close to falling off in a dry dock
♦ MAIB: LTI – a wedge shattered causing injury

IMCA Safety Flash 01/25 Page 3 of 5

Reference Items Published
IMCA SF 16/24 ♦ LTI: fingers severed by spinning fan blade Aug-24
♦ Angle Grinder Finger Injury
♦ Crew member cut hand on broken glass during heavy weather
♦ Arm injury from metal skip cover
♦ MSF: Serious hand injury – high pressure air
IMCA SF 17/24 ♦ Non-fatal man overboard: worker fell from height into the sea Aug-24
♦ LTI – person fell from step ladder
♦ Parted tag line caused damage during lifting operations
♦ Dropped object during cable trans-spooling
♦ Lifeboat air cylinder explosion on an empty installation
IMCA SF 18/24 ♦ Near miss: lift bag released unintentionally from crane hook Sep-24
♦ Nitrogen cylinder ruptured
♦ Offshore platform decommissioning near miss
♦ NTSB: Fire on vessel – stray electrical current during welding
♦ MAIB: vessel collision caused by mismatch between bridge and engine room
control
IMCA SF 19/24 ♦ Man overboard during motion compensated gangway transfer Sep-24
♦ UK HSE: fall from height injury at container port
♦ Tampering with approved safety devices
♦ Injury to little finger – LTI
♦ Laceration to right index finger
IMCA SF 20/24 ♦ Fire in engine room Oct-24
♦ Near Miss: Smoke and fire on Main Engine Exhaust
♦ Urgent inspection of pressurised carbon dioxide fire fighting systems
♦ MSF: Safety pins left in fire suppression system – high potential near miss
♦ Inappropriate automatic activation of fixed fire-fighting system
♦ NTSB: Fire on vessel – escaped exhaust gases
IMCA SF 21/24 ♦ Main Crane failure during load test Oct-24
♦ AC vent unit cover dislodged and fell 1.7m
♦ Dropped sheave and clump weight
♦ UK HSE: Incident during rig decommissioning leads to fatality
♦ Positive: successful rescue of surfer on the open sea
IMCA SF 22/24 ♦ Diver exposed to unplanned release of production gas Nov-24
♦ Dropped object – wooden packing block
♦ BSEE: person fell through open hatch
♦ NTSB: Fire on vessel – escaped exhaust gases
♦ Snagging hazards
IMCA SF 23/24 ♦ LTI: Finger injury during emergency recovery of ROV Nov-24
♦ BSEE: recurring hand injuries from alternative cutting devices
♦ NTSB: Crane wire failure
♦ Hot work performed outside of Permit to Work (PTW) boundary limit
♦ Vital safety information (height of vehicle) found incorrect

IMCA Safety Flash 01/25 Page 4 of 5

 Safety Flash
01/25 – January 2025

Reference Items Published

IMCA SF 24-24 ♦ Structural failure of rescue boat Dec-24
♦ High potential: spontaneous opening of hydraulic release shackle (HRS) pin
♦ NTSB: diesel generator engine failure
♦ LTI: fall from height during anchor chain handling operation
♦ Sudden disconnection of pressurised hose

IMCA Safety Flash 01/25 Page 5 of 5