IMCASF - Oct 16

AB Safety Flash
IMCA Safety Flash 27/16 October 2016
These flashes summarise key safety matters and incidents, allowing wider dissemination of lessons learnt from them. The information below has been
provided in good faith by members and should be reviewed individually by recipients, who will determine its relevance to their own operations.
The effectiveness of the IMCA safety flash system depends on receiving reports from members in order to pass on information and avoid repeat incidents.
Please consider adding the IMCA secretariat ([email protected]) to your internal distribution list for safety alerts and/or manually submitting information
on specific incidents you consider may be relevant. All information will be anonymised or sanitised, as appropriate.
A number of other organisations issue safety flashes and similar documents which may be of interest to IMCA members. Where these are particularly relevant,
these may be summarised or highlighted here. Links to known relevant websites are provided at www.imca-int.com/links Additional links should be submitted
to [email protected]
Any actions, lessons learnt, recommendations and suggestions in IMCA safety flashes are generated by the submitting organisation. IMCA safety flashes
provide, in good faith, safety information for the benefit of members and do not necessarily constitute IMCA guidance, nor represent the official view of the
Association or its members.
Focus: Falling into Open Hatches

The focus of this safety flash is the risk of falling into open and unprotected hatches on deck. There are three such
incidents with increasing severity of consequence:
 In the first incident, a near miss, a number of hatches were left open on deck during tank cleaning. There were
no injuries;
 In the second incident, a crewman did in fact fall into an open hatch on deck, but fortunately managed to grab
onto an edge and therefore prevented a more serious fall. He was also uninjured;
 In the third incident, a person fell into an unprotected manhole and whilst he did catch himself before he took
a really serious fall, he did suffer minor lacerations which required medical treatment.
The fourth part of this safety flash deals with the product recall of certain working at height equipment, reproduced
by permission of the manufacturer.
1 Near Miss: Open Hatches Left Without Barriers

A member has reported a near miss incident in
which a number of hatches on deck were left
open without any form of barrier, creating the
potential for injury if persons were to fall down
the hatches. The incident occurred during
routine tank cleaning operations carried out by
an authorized tank cleaning contractor on board
a supply vessel. During night shift vessel
inspection and tank cleaning operation
monitoring, 10 tank hatches were observed
open and left uncontrolled (potential to fall into
the manhole for some employees working near
the open hatches).
Initial investigation revealed that 11 diesel tank

hatches were opened and gas tested; the 10
hatches were left open for ventilation without
any protection/control measures or any barriers for each hatch. The overall area was barricaded off by tape by the
tank cleaning contractor with a single standby person allocated on deck.
Our member noted the following:
 10 hatches were left open for ventilation without any barriers;
 There were no additional control measures in place, except a verbal caution during the toolbox talk about the
risk of falling into the open hatches;
 The unsafe condition was neither identified nor challenged by any personnel from the contractor or from the
vessel crew.
Our member took the following actions:

 Tank cleaning operations were stopped for the moment;
 A safety stand-down was conducted with emphasis on the potential hazards and the requirement to be vigilant
and initiate a stop work authority for any unsafe conditions identified;
 Further thorough review of task risk assessment and procedures for tank cleaning and other dangerous space
entry activities – with consideration of better management of the open hatches;
 Further clarification of roles and responsibilities during simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) and during tank
cleaning;
 Barriers and vented grating ordered for all vessels in fleet.
2 Near Miss: Person Almost Fell from Height During Anchor Chain Preparations
The Marine Safety Forum (MSF) has published the following safety alert regarding a near miss during preparation
to load anchor chain into a moon pool chain locker. One person almost fell into the chain locker. The hatch cover
had been temporarily removed before the installation of the chain guide. The hatch had an opening of 155cm x
85cm. The depth of the locker was approximately 10m and there was 1–1.5m of water at the bottom.
The person fell backwards, with the upper part of his body towards the opening of the hatch. He managed to turn
slightly over to his right side and grab onto the edge around the hatch opening with both hands. His ankles and the
lower part of his feet were also above the edge of the hatch opening. He managed to get his right elbow over the
edge. He shouted for help twice before getting the attention of his colleagues.
The MSF notes that the near miss occurred because:

 The hatch had been left open without a barrier;
 The fact that the hatch had been opened was not sufficiently communicated;
 Risk assessment and planning for the work, given the risks involved, was neither suitable nor sufficient.
A similar hatch Reconstruction of area of near miss
The MSF safety alert can be found here.

3 Medical Treatment: Person Fell Down Unprotected Hatch
The MSF has published safety alert number 16-17 regarding an incident in which a shore-side foreman walked into
the "safe haven" area of a supply vessel and stepped into an open manhole. Whilst he managed to catch himself
and prevent a free fall of 5m into the tank, he nonetheless suffered a laceration on his shin requiring 3 stitches and
bruising to the forearm.
The MSF noted the following causes:

 Lack of barriers to open manholes;
 Several different activities all occurring at once;
 Lack of coordination of those simultaneous activities.
The following corrective actions were taken:

 Covering of manholes with gratings during work;
 Ensuring that ongoing work is coordinated between the work parties in the same area, through toolbox talks.
The full report can be found here.
Members may wish to refer to the following incidents (search words: hatch, open):
 IMCA SF 08/08 – Incident 1 – Fall through open hatch in walkway;
 IMCA SF 20/15 – Incident 2 – Crewman falls down open hatchway during simultaneous operations;
 IMCA SF 17/16 – Incident 5 – Near miss: bilge cover left open.
4 DBI-SALA® Lad-Saf™ Sleeve – Stop Use and Voluntary Recall/Replacement

A member has drawn IMCA’s attention to problems with certain safety equipment used in work at heights. The
equipment is the DBI-SALA® Lad-Saf™ Sleeve. The manufacturer of this equipment reiterates that customer safety
and confidence are their highest priorities, and confirms that in light of reported incidents and potential misuse
scenarios involving the equipment, its sale has been discontinued.
Original Lad-Saf sleeves are being voluntarily recalled for replacement. Users of such equipment are asked by the
manufacturer to:
“immediately stop using and quarantine all original Lad-Saf sleeves. Affected part numbers are:
6100016, 6116500, 6116501, 6116502, 6116503, 6116504, 6116505, 6116506, 6116507, 6116509, 6116512,
6116535, 6116540, 6116541, 6116542, 6116500C, 6116500SM, 6116507/A, 6116540b, 6160031, KC36116502,
KC36116506 = 6116506, KC3PL3330, KC3L3330/0, KC3L3330ED, KC3SC2020
Contact 3M Customer Services at +33 4 97 10 00 10 or email us at [email protected], to discuss the
replacement of your returned units with an X2 sleeve, depending on your needs, at no cost to you.”
Further information is available at http://en.capitalsafety.eu/Pages/News-Lad-Saf-Sleeve-Voluntary-Recall.aspx

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AB Safety Flash

IMCA Safety Flash 27/16 October 2016

Focus: Falling into Open Hatches

1 Near Miss: Open Hatches Left Without Barriers

Initial investigation revealed that 11 diesel tank

Our member took the following actions:

The MSF notes that the near miss occurred because:

A similar hatch Reconstruction of area of near miss

The MSF safety alert can be found here.

The MSF noted the following causes:

The following corrective actions were taken:

The full report can be found here.

4 DBI-SALA® Lad-Saf™ Sleeve – Stop Use and Voluntary Recall/Replacement

Further information is available at http://en.capitalsafety.eu/Pages/News-Lad-Saf-Sleeve-Voluntary-Recall.aspx

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