An inquiry into an offshore lifting incident – that ended up with a piece of kit falling onto the seabed – has been published.
It happened in the Norwegian North Sea during a lifting operation from the Stril Mar supply ship to the Deepsea Atlantic, which is operated by Odfjell Drilling.
On March 8, a 35.2 tonne slip joint, which was being hoisted by a crane on the rig, “dropped out of control”.
It hit the Stril Mar’s bulkhead, causing it material damage, before crashing into the sea.
The Deepsea Atlantic’s starboard crane and the slip joint also suffered damage, with the former being out of action “for a time”.
An investigation was subsequently launched by watchdog the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, the findings of which have now been published.
It found that planning and execution of the lifting operation was inadequate.
Moreover, as well having the wrong settings, the Deepsea Atlantic’s crane was operated outside its design criteria.
“Under slightly different circumstances”, the slip joint could have fallen with “full force” against the Stril Mar’s deck, causing greater damage, the PSA said.
But the watchdog acknowledged that it is unlikely that the load could have caused damage to subsea structures, and that the incident didn’t pose a potential for personal injury.
Nevertheless, several nonconformities have been flagged in connection with the dropped load.
They are, inadequate safety clearance of activities, safety system for offshore crane deficiencies in weight information for the slip joint, and use of offshore crane.
Odfjell, which has been contracted for comment, has also been encouraged to improve the design of the procedure for heavy lifting.
The offshore drilling contractor has until October 28 to notify the PSA as to how the nonconformities will be dealt with.