Safety

This issue provides details of an umbilical entanglement near miss, and accidental activation of emergency stop buttons from IMCA; and a warning about the high risk of working on pipelines which may be affected by dead-leg corrosion from the HSE.

IMCA Alert 1576
During the recovery of tools and equipment after a diving task was completed, a diver’s untendered umbilical became trapped against a saltwater intake leading to the diver switching to bailout and being assisted by a second diver to free the umbilical.  The leading cause of the incident has been identified as the umbilical being untendered; instead it was secured to a vessel railing while the tender was engaged in other tasks.  See Alert 1576 for more details.

IMCA Alert 1577
Emergency procedures for recovering saturation divers were implemented after a warning light appeared on a vessel’s Voith Schneider Propulsion (VSP) control station and a DP Yellow Alarm sounded.  All divers were recovered safely and investigation showed that the VSP lube oil pumps had stopped due to both emergency stop buttons being activated.  Further investigation revealed that the emergency stop buttons were not fitted with protective covers and were accidentally pressed by engine room crew.  See Alert 1577 for more details.

HSE Bulletin CEMHD2
A recent incident of a significant leak of hot hydrocarbon under pressure when a dead-leg failed catastrophically is a reminder of the risks involved in working on pipe-work which may contain dead-leg corrosion.  See Bulletin CEMHD2 for more details.