Offshore staff
OSLO, Norway – Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has issued an order to COSL Drilling Europe following an accident late last year on the semisubmersible COSLInnovator during operations offshore Norway.
One person died when the facility was hit by a wave. Subsequently PSA performed a three-month investigation.
The investigation identified two breaches of the regulations:
- COSLInnovatordid not have an air gap of 1.5 m (4.9 ft) between the underside of the lowest deck and the highest wave top. The facility’s superstructure was not sized to withstand horizontal wave loads.
- The head count system during mustering did not work satisfactorily.
PSA has ordered COSL Drilling Europe, via appropriate calculations or model tests, to verify that theCOSLInnovator, COSLPromoter, and COSLPioneer facilities – all of which underwent modifications after the incident – comply with the Norwegian Maritime Directorate’s (NMD) regulations on the construction of mobile offshore units.
The contractor must submit a proposed work plan by June 15, and the program must be completed by Oct. 1.
Since the accident, PSA has been working to identify lessons from the incident and communicate these to the industry.
Each individual contractor, it adds, must now ensure that requirements concerning air gaps and horizontal wave forces are accommodated on their facilities. This is the companies’ own responsibility.
In conjunction with NMD, the authority is also assessing whether to adjust regulations and calculation practice for problems that the accident has brought to light.
06/06/2016
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