Offshore staff
NEUILLY-SUR-SEINE, France – Bureau Veritas (BV) has developed guidelines for walk-to-work (W2W) motion compensated offshore access systems (OAS), used to transfer personnel to and from offshore installations.
Guidance Note NI629 Certification of Offshore Access Systems is said to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the safety principles and technical requirements for the design, manufacturing, and operation of reliable and dependable equipment for transfer operations at sea.
Matthieu de Tugny, senior vice president and head of offshore, said: “Walk-to-Work OAS can provide significant safety, operability, and/or cost advantages over more traditional personnel transfer methods such as personnel basket or capsule lifts, step-over from high-speed crew transfer vessels and helicopter transfers.
“We see a lot of new vessel types emerging with these motion-compensated gangways and it is imperative that the industry has a standard against which to assess their safety and to help develop safe new designs.”
Two different offshore access technologies have emerged, BV says: passive transfer gangways, which are first connected to the offshore installation and then put in free-flow mode for personnel transfer; and activetransfer gangways, which remain motion compensated during personnel transfer.
Safety issues and critical components vary and therefore require special attention to ensure safe and reliable operation.
04/21/2016
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