Fast rescue craft damaged by inappropriate use
- Safety Flash
- Published on 31 January 2018
- Generated on 4 July 2025
- IMCA SF 03/18
- 1 minute read
A vessel was engaged in a joint offshore oil spill response exercise involving third parties.
What happened?
During the exercise, the client instructed the Master to use the Fast Rescue Craft (FRC) of the vessel as a towing boat for repositioning the oil booms deployed.
What went wrong? What were the causes?
The mooring bollard on the FRC broke under tension when the FRC started to tow the oil boom.
The FRC was not fit for this purpose and this was not considered while planning or risk assessing the task in preparation for the exercise. A suitable work boat should have been used for positioning of the oil boom.
Incidents involving small boats, whether work boats, Fast Rescue Craft (FRC), lifeboats or Crew Transfer Vehicles (CTV), should always to be treated as having high potential for serious injury or fatality.
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