Safety Flashes?

[Ray Shields]

You will not be surprised the number of people who have received electric shocks of things (e.g. guy who got a belt off the ROVHPP terminals inside the TMS junction box "but I had isolated the ROV" – but who still had power running down to the TMS, had never heard of induced voltages then) and then when you ask them "You DID follow all the procedures, lock offs and earthing of conductors, didn’t you?

The worst case I ever had was about 9 years ago when during demob of the ROV system, I told a PT (years experience, not a trainee) to disconnect the deck lead to the winch and secure it on to it. I showed him the JB in the shack, the PDU with all the power isolated and locked off etc.

Went away n left him to it, he disconnecrted the cable, coiled it up on the winch and then – for some reason only known to him – decided to open the box below it (marked 440V Main Incomer) and begin to disconnect that cable as well.

He had just started unscrewing it (using an insulated T handled Allan key (luckily for him) when another PT came in, seen what he was doing and screamed at him to stop.

I came in and asked him why he was disconnecting the main incomer with the lights still on in the shack OBVIOUSLY indicating power was still on "Oh, I just thought I’d disconnect this cable as well"…

Really pissed ME off because it would have been MY fault as Supervisor because he was an obvious idiot.

You just cannot teach common sense and companys fail to check for it.

(PS I believe the inside drum accident happened in the base in Singapore, not offshore)

[Scott Beveridge]

Ray,

As you are pretty well aware of (I assume), the lockout systems now are well ALMOST idiot-proof. There was still an incident 1 1/2 yrs. ago with one of the big players…. procedures (and they were drawn up well) weren’t followed and none of that particular crew were hi-volt certed.

Do you recall (or heard) of AUC’s S’pore (Frank Vespa days) first Rigworkers (17 & 18) and the old alpha-keys the PDU had? It took 6 to 8 keys to get into and the keys had to be opened in a certain order. The downside to this was the extra space it consumed! I believe this idea was taken from the RN if I’m not mistaken… NOTE: those Rigworkers, electrically, came a long way since serial #’s 1 – 5.

[Ewan McKen]

You just cannot teach common sense and companys fail to check for it.

Do you have a simple test that I can use to check for it?

Regards,
I5

[Anonymous]

I will agree that most systems now have reasonably idiot proof lockout breakers, however, I have recently worked on an Italian company’s ancient vessel which has no facility whatsoever for mechanically locking out the supply breaker and no fuses handy to it either, on a 200A circuit.

Especially disconcerting when you ask another 3rd nationality (former eastern bloc with a poor grasp of English) to lockout / tagout and the end result is a piece of duct tape across the breaker, albeit switched off. ❗

[misiuek]

all just to clarify a little regarding the drum incident,

Ray it happened offshore not in the base please be careful when putting information on a forum like this.

the tech has worked with these systems for over 10 years with 4 or 5 years offshore approx , there were many contributing factors one being the design of a JB being inside the winch and the access on such a small scale only the smallest person could go in.

(this has been changed to a sliding tray, as are others as they come through the workshop)

i for one cant believe anybody would use a heat gun on CFC any CFC but from talking to other people after this incident it wasnt as uncommon as one would think.
Use this news flash as it is supposed to be used as a warning of what can go wrong when certain procedures are not followed, STOP and THINK before doing tasks, if you have to squeeze yourself into a tight space ask yourself why, bring it up with your supervisor supt, manager. Something like this goes unnoticed because people use the term ‘íts always been this way’ doesnt mean its right.

the person burnt is back at work and is a very good worker so please dont speculate the whys and what nots, just make sure that when you conduct any task it is done safely so you too do not become a statisic

with thanks MR

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