Health & Safety

A recent Safety Flash published by the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) focuses on an incident in which a fire hose couplings failed at the neck of the stub inserted into the hose during routine pressure/leak testing.

As part of annual testing of the fire hydrant hoses, two crew were assigned to conduct leak testing of the main deck fire hoses. A Number 3 hose (20m x 52mm (2”)) was connected to a fire hydrant valve and nozzle and visual inspections of the hose and valve conducted prior to testing. During the test it was noted that one end of the fire hose had disconnected. The test was stopped, and further investigation was conducted. Continue reading “Failure of fire hose couplings case study”

The Nautical Institute has shared some lessons learned from an incident that involved a corroded fire extinguisher, which had been condemned and subsequently its malfunction proved fatal.

A handheld cartridge-type dry chemical powder fire extinguisher was condemned during an annual third-party inspection due to corrosion. It was subsequently discharged, essentially for demonstration purposes. When the internal carbon dioxide cartridge was activated to pressurise the fire extinguisher, the unit ruptured at the base. The person activating the extinguisher was struck in the head by pieces of flying metal which proved to be fatal. Continue reading “Condemned fire extinguisher must be discarded”

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has published details of a potentially serious near-miss recently which occurred on a Gulf of Mexico energy facility. While using the platform crane to suspend a wireline lubricator, the pin holding the hook on the crane stinger backed out, resulting in the hook and lubricator falling.

The incident investigation found that the cotter pin at the end of the hook pin had sheared, which allowed the washer to fall and the pin to back out. Continue reading “Crane components must comply with recommendations”