Wrong Connection of Mud Hose

Cause & Consequence

• Release of a harmful substance

Incident Location

Any Location Type

Incident Activity

Sea transport

Incident Info Source

secretary@marinesafetyforum.co.uk

Specific Incident Equipment

Mud hose, TODO couplings, fuel line

Lessons Identified

Due to the adapter being in place on the mud line at that time, both mud and fuel lines had TODO couplings. The deck crew’s eye protection was not 100% clean and, hence, somewhat blurred – this might have been a contributing factor in not fully detecting the real colours and paying attention to them. There was not full visual control from the bridge as this was going on at aft manifold. The incident could have been avoided providing the deck crew had paid attention to colour coding and text marking and providing they had double-checked the correctness of the connection upon the bridge’s routine enquiry of acknowledgement.

Incident Recommendations

The Weco/TODO adapter was immediately removed from the mud line connection after this incident. In addition to colours and text markings already in place, the covers of couplings will also be marked accordingly. Pocket-size laminated cards with all colour codes are produced for deck crew to have these easily available for checking if ever in doubt. During hose operations, always check the correctness of connection before opening any valves and giving “go ahead” to bridge.