International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) provides lessons learned from an incident regarding a small “champagne” leak the was noted in a diver’s COBRA hose during a diving operation.
The incident
During diving operations, diver 1’s right-hand COBRA hose had a “champagne” leak coming from the connection at the hat. The diver was instructed to return to the bell and the hose was changed. After the hose was changed, the diver lock-out checks were carried out and completed.
Once on the seabed, diver 2 was instructed to check diver 1’s COBRA hose for leaks; a small champagne leak was noted. Diver 2 was able to stop the leak by tightening the knurled collar on the COBRA hose.
At the end of the dive, diver 1 returned to the bell, the bellman inspected the divers’ hat and it was identified that the right-hand hose knurled retaining collar at the hat connection had been cross-threaded and not fully tightened. This resulted in the hose pulling free from the hat when the bellman lifted the hat clear of the divers head with the pulley system.
Credits: IMCA
Probable cause
Lessons learned
#1 The potential for the coupling to be misaligned.
#2 The Rotowink may still give a green indication when coupling is misaligned.
#3 When correctly connected there must be no visible threads.
Credits: IMCA
