Notice No. 12
                                                                                     May 12, 1994

ACCIDENTS

Recently, the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region experienced a series of accidents, resulting in personal injuries (burns from an explosion; bruises and hypothermia from a fall overboard) and a fatality (electrocution). The accidents occurred during routine maintenance operations, involving a flare condensate knockout drum, the transfer of a sandblast pot by crane, and electrical switching gear, respectively.

In each case, proper and established company, industry, and/or MMS operational procedures were not completely followed, which contributed significantly to the accidents. In the interest of safety, the Minerals Management Service recommends that the following steps be taken to help prevent similar incidents:

1. Operators should review all established procedures to confirm that they are still appropriate for current operations. These proper, established procedures need to be reinforced to all crew members and regularly reviewed with them. No unapproved deviations from these procedures should be allowed.

2. A walk-through by the person in charge should be done, so that a fresh set of eyes examines the work site to verify that there are no deviations from normal procedures and to ensure that any detected problems are corrected, before commencing critical phases of the operations.

There is never room for complacency when risks are high. Both inexperienced and experienced personnel must adhere to established procedures and be conscious of potential safety hazards.