Woodside installing safer, remotely operable firefighting system on Goodwyn A helideck

Woodside Energy has engaged an engineering company in Perth to help devise a safer helideck firefighting system for its offshore facilities.

The first to undergo an installation will be the North West Shelf’s Goodwyn A (GWA) platform offshore Western Australia’s Pilbara coast.

Currently, Woodside’s Emergency Response team is required to manually operate two helideck cannons, both issuing high-pressure foam streams to blanket a fire. The foam, however, contains the chemical fluorine, which can be harmful to the environment and humans if they are exposed to high levels over long periods. 

Fluorine is also present in Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS), otherwise known as “forever chemicals” because of their long lifespan.

Woodside also found that current firefighting practice exposed operators both to the fire incident and the foam and impeded escape from the aircraft. So, the company decided to develop a safer system on an existing facility that could use a fluorine-free foam.

Although various approvals were in place for the equipment and the foam, no testing of the equipment had taken place using fluorine-free foams.

The company’s senior loss prevention engineer Andrew Spear, supported by project engineer Supratik Debbarma, asked Incos Engineering in Perth to come up with a solution. The resulting design features a peripheral ring of high-capacity, pop-up spray nozzles that can project a 360-degree foam blanket to cover the entire helicopter landing area, irrespective of the fire location.

The nozzles, designed for fluorine-free foam, are said to mitigate the environmental and health risks. Engineering the equipment for fast-response, remote, unattended operation is designed to remove the risks previously faced by cannon operators.

“We've also replaced the hard pipe with a fire and blast resistant Elastopipe, which allowed flexibility in design and installation on a 30-year-old facility,” Supratik said.

According to Spear, under the supervision of DNV and Australian safety training provider ERGT, fireground testing demonstrated extinguishment in less than 10 seconds, well within the 30-second requirement for fire control.

The fixed nozzle foam system will be installed on GWA later this year.