A new project aimed at providing advice on alternatives to helicopters for delivering North Sea staff to their platforms has launched.
Industry safety classification group DNV GL has launched a joint industry project to look at best practices for walk to work schemes, which allow staff to transfer to and from offshore platforms via a gangway to a ship.
The move comes in the wake of the Super Puma groundings earlier this year which left staff stranded on platforms, sparking a new focus on alternatives.
“We know W2W manning of installations have been, and currently are being, undertaken to varying degrees of success and we do not want to re-invent the wheel,” said DNV GL principal consultant Hamish Holt.
“This JIP aims to bring together the most up to date feedback, experiences and lessons learnt, in order to assist those involved in a W2W project understand the issues and make appropriate decisions.
“The produced guidance will not be prescriptive; instead it will aim to give information and guidance to allow individual organisations to develop their own W2W solution.”
The Super Puma groundings in recent months, most recently after the fatal crash off Shetland, has had a significant impact on getting staff to and from platforms, with alternative methods increasingly being looked at.
DNV GL points to walk to work systems as an alternative should the fleet be grounded again, claiming it offers a cheaper and more flexible alternative for getting crews offshore – but Holt admits there are still issues to overcome.
“During operation it requires effective alignment, integration and collaboration between the installation operator, a vessel operator and a gangway provider, on a 24 hour basis in a dynamic environment heavily influenced by operational need and sea conditions,” he said.
“Most importantly, it requires buy-in from the W2W workforce as well as from industry regulators.”
The new project is looking to canvas views from across the offshore industry, including wind projects which have been looking to walk to work schemes for getting staff to turbines offshore.
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