HSE safety notice - fall risk from offshore cabin floor windows
LEEA is updating its members to a safety notice that has been issued by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after fatal falls through glass floor windows in elevated offshore cabins.
HSE Notice ED03-2026 covers pedestal-mounted crane cabins and elevated control cabins in drilling derricks. Members who supply, maintain or inspect offshore cranes should check that the floor gratings in these cabins are fixed in place.
What caused the safety notice?
Many elevated cabins have glass panels in the floor so the operator can see the load or the drill floor below. The glass is not load bearing, so a grating sits over it. Where that grating simply lifts out, removing it to clean or maintain the glass leaves an opening a person can fall through.
HSE has published this safety notice as part of an ongoing investigation into one incident of this kind and knows of a second that occurred outside Great Britain.
Both incidents resulted in fatal falls that happened after gratings were removed so that glass floor windows could be cleaned or maintained.
Actions required by HSE
HSE has issued guidance to both duty holders and suppliers of elevated cabins.
What duty holders must do
- Fix gratings securely so they cannot be removed without tools.
- Assess the risks of any work carried out in elevated cabins.
- Put suitable controls in place to prevent falls.
- Display clear warning signs wherever non-load-bearing glass floor windows are present.
What suppliers must do
- Support duty holders in meeting safety requirements.
- Those who no longer support their cabins, but know they are still in use, should make reasonable efforts to alert the companies using them.
The full safety notice is available on the HSE website, which you can access here: Offshore - Elevated cabin floor windows.
