Over the past several weeks, thousands of offshore workers have been put through short courses to get familiar with the new Category A compliant Compressed Air Emergency Breathing System (CA-EBS) mandated by the Civil Aviation Authority following its inquiry into North Sea helicopter safety.
The new apparatus is quite different to the rebreathe systems (including hybrids which have a simple compressed air cylinder). It is simpler to use and faster to deploy.
And perhaps offshore commuters at last have an emergency breather pack that could genuinely facilitate their survival in situations that might otherwise defeat the earlier technology developed back in the 1990s, initially by Shark with funding from Shell.
I’m lucky; I don’t have to work offshore. Moreover, it is some time since I was last on a live production platform. I’ve not had to go through mandatory safety training upon which my future as an offshore worker hinges.
That means I’ve not had to go through the BOSEIT or HUET or MIST training packages. However, if I was to go offshore today for even just a few hours, then a short, sharp course would be mandatory, and rightly so. By the way, I hope this applies to UK ministers of state too!
Wind the clock back to early May. The location is the foyer of the Post Oak Hilton in Houston, which a huge delegation of Brits were as usual using as their HQ during OTC (Offshore Technology Conference) week.
I can’t remember quite how it happened, but it was there that I was challenged to experience both the old and new emergency systems. The person who threw down the gauntlet was Andy Green, now CEO at Survivex.
A convenient date would be arranged for stage one . . . my HUET – Helicopter Underwater Escape Training. I was going to be dunked with and without the old style rebreathe apparatus; upright and upside down.
Then later, when the first of the new style apparatus became available, I would join a course and experience it first hand as a rank and file delegate among many.
Now, I’m very familiar with the sea. It has been a huge part of my life, both commercially and for leisure. I gained a life-saving certificate decades ago at Aberdeen Grammar and remain a reasonable swimmer, etc, etc.
But none of this had prepared me for being strapped into a simulator fuselage and being dunked; it didn’t matter which way and the first time was without the rebreathe pack.
Fortunately, I mostly remembered what I was supposed to do and had the wonderfully patient Niki Brown as my personal trainer for the session. Note the word mostly. Buckle hand for apparatus deployment; the other one directed at the escape route
Even though the instructions are simple and logical and you are asked to be calm; that gets tough underwater when you’re desperate to get out.
But Niki saw me through, though I bottled out on completing the full six immersions because of an ear pain that I had not experienced in 40 or more years. Nor did I think I could do an upside down egress without apparatus.
I did my HUET introduction in a controlled environment . . . comfy water temperature and not the cruel North Sea. It was the equivalent of a flat calm and in broad daylight.
We have had an exceptional summer with a few millpond days; but that is not the North Sea norm. It is an horrendous environment.
Now to the CA-EBS session where, following a detailed introduction, session leader Sandy Greig then put all delegates through a hands-on with the new equipment, which will be phased in across the UK sector shortly.
It’s a bit like a fancy zip-up life jacket with bells and whistles, including double redundancy buoyancy. It is very easy to don. The elegance lies in the emergency breathing pack . . . mini-bottle and simple integrated demand valve-based mouthpiece with integrated noseclip.
I think we all found it incredibly quick and easy to don (with buddy checks) and start to use. We were put through several runs and, with the exception of the very powerful integrated noseclip (no more time consuming, fiddly stuff with the dangly clip of the rebreathe system).
One was (is) allowed up to 20 seconds to don a rebreather; it is not more than 12 seconds for the CA-EBS. I think we all managed it in about six seconds or so.
In theory you get around one minute’s air supply in 12C water (North Sea temperatures range roughly 6-17C). Reality is that many people could buy a lot more time than that, if they can get a grip of the impacts of cold water shock.
Everyone will go through full immersion training as the various training providers modify their facilities. I’d like to think that I will be brave enough to give it a go if challenged again.
But I’m just a bystander. I’m not one of those North Sea commuters whose jobs literally hang on getting through their offshore safety training.
The delegate sitting next to me at the CA-EBS introduction had flown in that very morning for the training. That person shared the fear that goes with every chopper commute . . . a terror that has lasted 11 years, if my recall is correct.
I was told that the rebreathe system had only ever been a token nod to safety and that most would not survive a real ditching where the aircraft floods. However, at last there seemed to be a system that genuinely would buy time to get out with a mite more confidence . . . and therefore survive.
Getting to where the industry is today in terms of North Sea aviation safety has been a painful journey and I take my hat off to each and every one of you who travel to work aboard the whirlybirds.
And thanks for challenging me Andy, I’m glad that you did.
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