Near miss: Potential dropped object due to unsecured door.

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 23 January 2018
  • Generated on 11 July 2025
  • IMCA SF 02/18
  • 1 minute read

Step Change in Safety reports an incident in which there was a potential dropped object due to an unsecured door on a load.

What happened?

The incident occurred when a flat pack spooler unit was being lifted from a vessel onto a platform.

What went wrong? What were the causes?

During the lift, the storage door had opened which revealed a small toolbox inside which was not secured.

Storage door with unsecured toolbox inside

Actions taken

Secondary retention solution put in place:

 

Secondary retention solution

Recommended size of the tie wrap is between 4.7mm and 13.2mm for drop locks. Secondary retention must be in place on all units with drop locks for both outward and inward transportation

Unsuitable secondary retention methods include linchpins, R-clips, spring/roll/nappy pins or any other type of pin device. All these means of secondary retention for lifting equipment or securing at height can spring open or be knocked out.

Unsuitable secondary retention methods

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