200752 - Unauthorised hot work causes burn injuries

Unauthorised hot work causes burn injuries	MARS Report 200752

This incident involved two crew members tasked with general maintenance of hatch cover hydraulics while the ship was at sea. They had difficulty in removing bolts from a flange and so decided to cut them off, using gas cutting equipment. As can be expected, once the flange was free there was a spray of hydraulic oil which ignited. Both crew members were burned in this incident but were lucky enough to have not suffered serious or life-threatening injuries. It is important to note that the master, chief officer and chief engineer had not issued any hot work permit for that day - the crewmembers took it upon themselves to use gas cutting equipment without first informing senior management on board. This is yet another incident that highlights the need for hot work to be planned and supervised and crew should be briefed in this respect and must be fully aware of the permit to work system as recommended in the Code of Safe Working Practices.