Lifting of Personnel by Crane Proves Fatal

Effective Date: 6/11/1996

U.S. Department of the Interior
Minerals Management Service
Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

Notice No. 166

June 11, 1996

Lifting of Personnel by Crane Proves Fatal

Recently, personnel aboard a jack-up drilling rig were in the process of removing tie ropes used for mooring supply boats and workboats from the legs of the rig. One of the personnel was fitted with a workvest life jacket and a safety riding belt that was shackled to a 30-foot-long, two-legged choker sling cable, which weighed approximately 80 pounds. The D-ring of the choker sling cable was secured with the safety latch for the port crane's fast line ball hook. The crane operator proceeded to lower the employee between the rig leg and rig hull when the D-ring slipped past the safety latch and off the crane's fast line ball hook. The employee fell into the Gulf of Mexico. Divers found his body with the safety riding belt still attached to the choker sling cable.

The safety latch being used for the crane's fast line ball hook was not of the type that should be used for lifting personnel. Therefore, it is recommended that all crane safety latches being used to lift personnel be checked to ensure that these safety latches are of the type that should be used for this type of operation.

MMS is the federal agency that manages the Nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and collects, accounts for, and disburses about $4 billion yearly in revenues from mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-GOMR-

http://www.gomr.boemre.gov/