The UK’s fleet of oil&gas industry emergency-response and rescue vessels claims to have taken crew training and exercise activity to new heights following the introduction of new HSE guidelines.
Vessels and their crews have notched up nearly 3,000 exercises in hostile weather conditions over the past 18 months to underline their rescue capabilities.
This is in response to tough new performance standards issued by the Health and Safety Executive.
The intensity of the programme should help ensure that both vessels and personnel are fully up to the task of assuring standby safety to hundreds of North Sea oil&gas production installations, plus mobile drilling units.
The guidelines essentially require vessels to demonstrate their performance levels in conditions unlikely to be exceeded for more than 5% of the time in the North Sea – in other words, shocking weather.
Energy is told that this is the first time data has been formally recorded consistently and on such a scale across the fleet, so providing a benchmark for the future performance of vessels belonging to member companies of the UK’s Emergency Response and Rescue Vessel Association (ERRVA).
The eight member companies of ERRVA operate more than 120 rescue and recovery vessels stationed in offshore oil&gas fields, employing more than 3,000 people.
The training carried out since early-2008 is as follows:
Southern North Sea – 45 ships took part and, combined, completed 1,767 trials. Mechanical rescue/recovery trials took place in weather conditions up to seven metres wave height and 45 knots wind speed. Fast rescue craft were used in 35% of trials, daughter craft in 40% and mechanical rescue/recovery devices in 25%.
Central North Sea – 68 ships took part in a total of 802 trials. Mechanical rescue/recovery trials took place in weather conditions up to 7.5m wave height and 45 knots wind speed. Fast rescue craft were used in 47% of trials, daughter craft in 20% and mechanical rescue/recovery devices in 33%.
Northern North Sea – 14 ships took part in total of 176 trials. Mechanical rescue/recovery trials took place in weather conditions up to six metres wave height and 40 knots wind speed. Fast rescue craft were used in 11% of trials, daughter craft in 57% and mechanical rescue/recovery devices in 32%.
Irish Sea – nine ships took part in 180 trials. Mechanical rescue/recovery trials took place in weather conditions up to four metres wave height and 40 knots wind speed. Fast rescue craft were used in 31% of trials, daughter craft in 60% and mechanical rescue/recovery devices in 9%.
The HSE’s guidelines allow for 50% extrapolation of trial results to take into account that it may not always be possible to conduct actual trials in the precise conditions.
For example, the state West of Shetland for 95% of the time annually is at, or less than, 6.01m. Trials therefore need to be conducted in actual wave heights of at least 4.0 metres, and the 50% extrapolation is then deployed to allow for a valid determination of rescue performance in 6.01m conditions or more.
Wave heights with a 5% annual exceedance threshold are as follows:
West of Shetland – 6.01m.
Northern North Sea – 5.2m.
Central North Sea – 4.16m.
Southern North Sea – 2.89m.
Irish Sea – 3.01m.
ERRVA chairman David Kenwright said: “Training and exercise work has always been a central feature of members’ work and these guidelines have reinforced that by setting specific standards for the first time and thus taking trial activity to a new level.
“ERRVA operators have embraced the approach, as illustrated by the large volume of trials undertaken, and all the feedback to date has been very positive. We are very pleased with performance levels demonstrated.
“These are invariably exercises simulating rescue operations and featuring the use of daughter craft, fast rescue craft or mechanical rescue/recovery devices.
“Basically, it is all about testing and proving their capabilities in sea conditions likely to be experienced for 95% of the time without extrapolating the findings by more than 50%. This means exercising in significantly higher sea states. In the West of Shetland, for example, that means trials taking place in wave heights in excess of four metres. There is always a natural concern about ‘importing’ risk into any industry, but this entire process has been completed to date without injury or damage, and the improvement in understanding of how the vessels and their equipment perform in more extreme weather conditions has been extremely useful.
“It has also given us a huge database of material on how vessels are performing, material that plays an important role in demonstrating industry performance levels to regulatory authorities, reinforcing the wider industry culture.
“The robust characteristics of the process are underlined by the fact that the exercises will be evaluated by independent third parties during the annual extrapolation trials.”
As Kenwright out it, training ERRVA personnel is a “little like firefighting”. If you don’t provide the means for firefighters to test themselves in the most authentic conditions possible, one can’t expect them to deal with a genuine emergency in the safest and most professional manner. It is to be hoped that organisations such as ERRVA waken to the immense HSE and training-related opportunity that awaits as offshore wind gains traction, and that the proposed multi-turbine European deployment centre, off Aberdeen, can play a vital, beneficial role in that process.
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