Diving Incident: Umbilical Snag

• A diver was lifted off the seabed because their umbilical caught on a diving bell clump weight during bell recovery.

What Happened

• While moving from the bell to the worksite, Starboard Diver 2’s umbilical fouled on the port bell clump weight.
• When the port bell was raised to a short mark (about 10m from deployed position) by the Diving Supervisor, Starboard Diver 2 was lifted about 4-5m due to the umbilical being caught.
• The Diving Supervisor called an ALL STOP and the port bell clump weight was lowered until Starboard Diver 2’s umbilical was cleared
• The diver returned to the bell, where his equipment was assessed and he did not lose any services.
• Diver 2 was cleared to return to work using Diver 3’s equipment.
• The bell in use had 3 working divers out, plus the bellman.

What Went Wrong

• The diver’s route from the Starboard bell to the worksite meant the umbilical was close to the port bell and its clump weight.
• The risk of snagging the umbilical on the clump weight was not recognized.

Lessons Learned

• If divers from the starboard bell must pass close to the port bell, the observation ROV should focus on the diver's umbilical.
• Divers who must pass close to objects being lifted or moved from one workplace to another should be monitored by a second diver or an ROV.
• A Time Out For Safety (TOFS) was held in Dive Control with all on shift divers to recognize, discuss, and communicate the near miss, and further discussion was held by Offshore Managers and supervisors.
• Matters to discuss included behaviours (line of fire), tidal effects and current on umbilical slack, the path the diver takes and proximity to objects being lifted, and umbilical drifting.
• Personal factors to discuss included inattention and the possibility of the umbilical snagging and use of the observation ROV to focus on the diver.