Failure of ROV lift umbilical winch brake – Update

Safety Flash
Published on 2 August 2001
Generated on 24 January 2026
IMCA SF 09/01
1 minute read

In the Safety Flash 08/01 (Failure of ROV lift umbilical winch brake) we reported an incident concerning an uncontrolled ROV umbilical winch run off involving a MacArtney CORMAX unit manufactured by Norlau.

The member company has updated us on this issue noting that the manufacturer has now acknowledged that there is a design problem and that until they can provide a technical solution, the manufacturer recommends that that winches should be operated at low speed only.

This is a short-term measure; the long-term solution may involve modifications to the winch system.

Failure of ROV lift umbilical winch brake

IMCA SF 08/01

1 August 2001

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