Offshore Platform – Officer of the Watch

Incident Information on Ballast Tank Explosion of Offshore Rig During Repairs

July 26, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

This incident refers to a ballast tank explosion of an offshore rig during shipyard repairs. During a repair job in a pre-load tank (ballast tank) on board a rig at a repair yard, an explosion occurred in the tank. The rig was undergoing extensive repairs. During the break time, workers using gas torch inside the pre-load tank, had shut the gas torch valves and left the tank. After the break, when they went in again for continuing their job, there was an explosion in the tank as soon as they ignited the gas torch.

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Filed Under: OOW FOCUS Tagged With: ballast tank, DNV, explosion, gas torch, offshore, Offshore Platform, Rig

Potential Costs of an Offshore Accident

July 16, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

The negative impacts of an accident are hard to quantify precisely, they will of course depend on the type, the scale, the time and the location of the event. In the case of an oil spill, its duration and the type of the oil will also have a major impact. The costs of an offshore accident will include costs to the operator (damage to the installation, lost oil, containment, cleanup, litigation etc.) and third-party costs to victims, to natural resources, the government and the affected individuals/businesses (including lost income). The information presented below are an abstract from the “Safety of offshore oil & gas Impact Assessment Annex I” working paper from the European Commission, published in 2011 to accompany the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament on safety of offshore oil and gas prospection, exploration and production activities.

Fact Section of PSA Norway Annual Report for 2012

July 10, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

PSA Norway released during last April the fact section of its annual report dealing with important results from the PSA activities and brief information on personal injuries, work-related illness, leaks, fires, damage to structures and pipelines etc. No fatal accidents occurred during 2012 within the PSA area of responsibility offshore and on land. Three people have died in occupational accidents over the past 10 years, most recently in 2009. A brief summary of the most important developments for accidents and injuries in 2012 is provided in this post.

Fatal Injuries in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations US 2003–2010

July 9, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

During 2003–2010, the U.S. oil and gas extraction industry (onshore and offshore, combined) had a collective fatality rate seven times higher than for all U.S. workers (27.1 versus 3.8 deaths per 100,000 workers). The 11 lives lost in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion provide a reminder of the hazards involved in offshore drilling. To identify risk factors to offshore oil and gas extraction workers, US CDC analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), a comprehensive database of fatal work injuries, for the period 2003–2010. The following findings of US CDC report describe the results of that analysis, which found that 128 fatalities in activities related to offshore oil and gas operations occurred during this period. Transportation events were the leading cause (65 [51%]); the majority of these involved aircraft (49 [75%]). Nearly one fourth (31 [24%]) of the fatalities occurred among workers whose occupations were classified as “transportation and material moving”.

Statfjord C Offshore Oil Platform

June 29, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

Filed Under: VIDEOS Tagged With: Offshore Platform, Statfjord C

Safety Factors of Offshore Drilling Accidents

June 20, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

The following article, written by Dr. Marios Patsoules, focuses on technical issues surrounding errors that may cause a major offshore accident such as the Deepwater Horizon and concludes that the “Human Factor” is one of the most important factors to be taken into consideration. This article is part of a series of articles discussing the infrastructures that are required in order to minimize accidents on offshore platforms.

Offshore Workers 3D Body Scanning Project

June 19, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

A research to measure offshore workers’ body size with 3D scanners to inform the future design of safety equipment, survival clothing and space requirements on offshore installations has been launched in Aberdeen by Robert Gordon University (RGU). The research, which will generate an ongoing capability for measuring the size and shape of the offshore workforce, is the first of its kind in more than 25 years and is being led by researchers at Robert Gordon University’s Institute of Health and Welfare Research (IHWR) in collaboration with experts from Oil and Gas UK.

EU Approach on Safety of Offshore Platforms

June 12, 2013 by Officer of the Watch 1 Comment

Prevailing trends in the European oil industry, especially in the field of search, detection and extraction of hydrocarbon deposits (Upstream), show an increase of these activities in the coming years. The most – technological, institutional, business – advanced European North, has begun to decline after forty years of production and prepares … not just to pass the “baton” to the south, but to bring it themselves…

Fire Caused by Crane’s Engine Onboard Offshore Platform – Investigation Report

June 3, 2013 by Officer of the Watch Leave a Comment

This Accident Investigation Report refers to a fire which broke out in a vent stack on Valhall PCP on Wednesday 13 July 2011. It was detected at about 16.37. At that time, a vessel had arrived and crane operations were under way on the south-eastern side of the facility. Staffing on the Valhall field centre totalled 626 people at the time.