International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) provides lessons learned from an incident in which during a site visit to a vessel, it was observed that a third-party contractor’s welder was standing on the wooden platform (the actual height was over 1.80m) inside a confined space (a ballast tank) doing some flame-cutting jobs.
No fall protection guards were installed around the worker, not was the worker wearing fall arrest equipment.
The job was stopped immediately and a temporary alternative working method was arranged where the worker wore a full body harness attached to with an inertia reel to a tripod.
What went wrong
- The personnel authorizing these activities – working at height doing hot work within a confined space:
- Made no Permit to Work application for hot work nor for working at height nor for working in a confined space;
- Did not conduct a review of the risk assessment for the task in hand;
- Inadequate supervision: there was no proper Control of Work by vessel crew or management at the site before the job started, and no ongoing verification of safe working as the job continued;
- There was a lack of hazard appreciation and risk perception by the persons involved; it took someone coming in from outside, observing the job, to actually stop it.
- It was easy to work unsafely: crew members misunderstood differing internal company procedural requirements for working at height;
- Various hazards were not recognised at all. Had the worker fallen within the tank, protruding metal elements meant that there was high potential for a very serious injury.
Actions taken locally
- Reiteration of importance of thorough Risk Assessment, Permit to Work process, and Control of Work, including regular monitoring;
- Ensured more robust control of Working at Height activities and prioritized availability of engineering controls (e.g. a scaffolding platform).
