The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has reprimanded Valaris after an 85kg object was dropped on one the company’s rigs that could have resulted in a fatality.
The body served an improvement notice on the group in mid-February after the incident, which saw a Perspex sheet drop during a lifting operation.
According to the HSE, the work was not carried out in a safe manner and that Valaris “did not ensure that lifting equipment was compatible with the shape and size of the load being lifted and the environmental conditions at the time.
“This resulted in the load being dropped in an uncontrolled manner which had the potential to result in a serious personal injury or a fatality,” the HSE added.
Valaris has until 29 March this year to ensure it is in compliance with HSE regulations. The company was contacted by Energy Voice for a statement, but did not respond.
This is not the first lifting accident to take place on a North Sea rig.
Valaris was reprimanded by the HSE in 2021 after a 2.3-tonne jar fell from a drill pipe elevator at a height of 10 metres on the Valaris JU-120 jackup rig.
Also in 2021, a three-tonne object dropped 50 feet at the Shell-operated Brent Charlie platform, which the HSE warned had “significant potential to cause a major accident”.
Another incident took place in 2022, this time at Repsol Sinopec Resources’ Claymore platform. This saw more than 260kg of fall from a height of five metres, coming close to offshore workers during a lifting operation.