This study is concerned with a correlation of microstructure and local brittle zone (LBZ) in offshore structural steel welds. The influence of the LBZ on fracture toughness was investigated by means of simulated heat-affected zone (HAZ) tests as well as welded joint tests. Micromechanical processes involved in void and cleavage microcrack formation were also identified using notched round tensile tests and subsequent SEM observations. The LBZ in the HAZ of a multiphase welded joint is the interstitially reheated coarse grained HAZ, which is influenced by metallurgical factors such as effective grain size, the major matrix structure and the amount of high-carbon martensite-austenite (M-A) constituents. The experimental results indicate that Chirpy energy was found to scale monotonically with the amount of M-A constituents, confirming that the M-A constituent is the major microstructural factor controlling the HAZ toughness. In addition, voids and microcracks are observed to initiate at M-A constituents by the shear cracking process. Thus, the M-A constituent played an important role in initiating the voids and microcracks, and consequently caused brittle fracture.