Safety authority blames crew for accident
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has recommended that that all ship managers and masters should urgently review their safety management systems and permit to work arrangements to ensure that hydraulic systems are correctly isolated and relieved of pressure before any work on a hydraulic system commences.
The comments, reports The Business Times, follow its investigation after an explosion severely burnt a welder on a vessel off the Western Australian coast last April because no one onboard realised that a hydraulic pipe that was being cut open with an oxygen-acetylene torch was pressurised with oil. The bureau concluded that the accident was caused directly by the fact that the ship\'s crew did not realise that the half-open hatch cover would result in residual oil pressure in the hydraulic system. Marine Safety Investigation Report Number 212, Australian Transport Safety Bureau Full report in The Business Times