A fire alarm was sounded after smoke was discovered coming from a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) room supplying power to remote valves. As IMCA informed, the planned maintenance procedures for UPS had not been followed, which is a key fact to the incident.
The incident
A fire alarm went off and smoke was noted in a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) room supplying power to remote valves. The UPS was isolated from the main supply and the battery bank was isolated.
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A CO2 extinguisher was used on the UPS to prevent the possibility of fire. The vessel had to be removed for a time from location near a rig.
Probable cause
The immediate cause of the incident in this case was wear and tear.
However, operational guidelines for the equipment were been followed. As IMCA says, maintenance procedures and manufacturer’s instructions for maintenance of UPS should be followed at all times.
Lessons learned
There always should be UPS backup for the cargo valve control system.
