Serious leg injury from falling winch sheave

An umbilical winch sheave was being hand-rolled along the deck when it fell over and struck the leg of one of the people handling it. Crew were rolling an umbilical sheave from an umbilical winch along the lower bell hanger to the main deck for onshore refurbishment.

The sheave was big and heavy: 1.7m across and 1.8m wide, and weighing around 580 kg. It had to be moved to a position from which the vessel crane could lift it onto a lorry on the quay for transfer to the workshop.

The work team was made up of a supervisor and two technicians. They had already removed one sheave from its housing and moved it to the back deck for lifting to the quayside. As the team were rolling the second sheave it slipped on the deck, dropped to deck level, and struck one of the team. He suffered leg injuries; he remained conscious and after initial first aid was transferred to hospital for further treatment.

A Safe System of Work (SSOW) was not effectively integrated and implemented at the worksite.

• There was a failure to adequately plan and supervise the works conducted by their team. The team focused on the winch disassembly without consideration of how to safely move the sheaves across the deck.
  
  
• The work started before a detailed risk assessment was carried out to ensure that suitable and sufficient controls were identified and implemented.
  
  
• There had been a preparatory Task Risk Assessment (TRA) but the controls identified were not effectively communicated to the work team during the pre-work Toolbox Talk.
  
  
• The Permit to Work was issued without confirmation that the work team fully understood the risk assessment or that they were able to comply with its requirements.
  
  
• The competency of the team had been reduced as a result of changes to crew allocation and rotation.
  
  
• Standard practices for supervising and supporting work teams including subcontractors at the worksite had been impacted by additional controls developed in response to COVID-19.