Audits reveal safety concerns at North Sea Visund Field, onboard an Island Offshore vessel
The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority has ordered Equinor and Island Offshore to tighten safety management procedures at the Visund Field in the North Sea and onboard the Island Constructor vessel.
The purpose of the audit was to verify compliance with regulatory requirements for barrier management and to limit the likelihood of failures, hazards and accidents.
Four non-conformities came to light related to inadequate design of well control equipment; insufficient risk assessment of the configuration of Visund’s seabed BOP; deficiencies at fire station 2; and inadequate control procedures.
Havtil’s team also identified a need to improve safety signage, training and drills, and for an assessment of evacuation chute positioning.
Following the review, Havtil has asked Equinor to report by Nov. 17 how it intends to address the recommended improvement measures.
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Another audit of safe operations onboard the Island Constructor multipurpose offshore vessel revealed non-conformities in barriers, maintenance, classification, design and labeling, compliance with procedures, explosive goods and radioactive sources as well as potential for falling objects, training and drills.
In addition, Havtil identified a need for operator Island Offshore to improve follow-up of the maintenance management system and management of chemical health hazards.
The non-conformities constitute serious breaches of Norwegian offshore regulations, Havtil added.
Jeremy Beckman has been Editor Europe, Offshore since 1992. Prior to joining Offshore he was a freelance journalist for eight years, working for a variety of electronics, computing and scientific journals in the UK. He regularly writes news columns on trends and events both in the NW Europe offshore region and globally. He also writes features on developments and technology in exploration and production.
