Near-miss: Dropped object narrowly misses worker

  • Safety Flash
  • Published on 30 November 2005
  • Generated on 27 April 2025
  • IMCA SF 11/05
  • 1 minute read

During some pipe work on the deckhead of a production platform, a spanner weighing 1.4 kg was dropped from the work place and fell 6 metres, landing only one metre from another worker.

What were the causes?

The immediate causes of this near-miss were that:

  • the workplace was not adequately secured against the risk of dropped objects

  • there was an opening in the grating allowing the object to fall.

Underlying causes noted were that:

  • the work had been improperly managed and organised

  • there had been no procedures in place for this type of work.

Lessons learnt

The resulting investigation made the following recommendations:

  • Use should be made of checklists for safe work at heights

  • Checks should be made and, where necessary, deficient floor grating should be repaired

  • Clear marking out of barriers in areas below working areas should be ensured

  • Permit to work systems should be correctly adhered to.

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