An energy giant is at the centre of a major safety probe after a fire broke out on a North Sea platform.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has accused CNR International of failing to protect workers properly from the risk of an explosion after oil ignited on the Tiffany platform.
The Press and Journal can reveal today that sprinkler systems did not launch automatically and had to be triggered manually to prevent disaster.
The 120 workers on board were called to muster ready for evacuation before the fire was brought under control.
The company said yesterday it was working with the HSE to investigate the incident.
But last night a leading trade unionist said it was symptomatic of the huge problems facing many ageing platforms in the North Sea basin.
According to the HSE – which has issued an improvement notice to the oil firm over the episode – the blaze started when a seal failed and oil seeped out.
The UK Government body has issued two improvement notices to CNR, including one this week, as the investigation continues.
Jake Molloy, of the RMT union, said the water sprinklers – known as a deluge system – were “critical” for safety.
“This incident shows why we need to get all safety-critical maintenance done as soon as possible, particularly on the older platforms,” he said
“Tiffany is one which is past its sell-by date and in need of some TLC – that’s why we have this situation.
“There aren’t many things more safety critical that the deluge system – it is vital that it is working properly. If it is not working, then you have serious problems. It is not the first time an incident like this has happened, and a lot of work needs to be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
CNR maintains that the deluge system did not fail and that it operated as designed. However, a spokesman for the HSE confirmed it did not trigger automatically.
He added: “The HSE can confirm that an investigation is ongoing into an incident on the Tiffany platform,”
“Two notices have been served, one of which is still in the appeal period.”
The first notice – seen by the Press and Journal – said the spill that sparked the fire was “uncontrolled”.
It adds that the fire system “did not detect” the blaze “in such a manner that would cause automatic executive actions to mitigate the effects of the fire, and necessitated operator intervention to initiate deluge to extinguish the fire.”
A spokesman for CNR stressed no one had been injured. “CNR International can confirm it received an improvement notice from the Health and Safety Executive in relation to an incident on the Tiffany platform on January 17,” he said.
“On that date a fire was detected in a process module and extinguished using fixed deluge systems. In line with procedure, production was shut down and all personnel were called to muster. We consider the health and welfare of its workforce to be paramount.”
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