Norway’s maritime safety regulator has completed an investigation into an accident involving injury during towing operations on a jack-up rig in a North Sea oil field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) and is awaiting a response from Odfjell Technology on how the discrepancies were discovered. have been considered. .
The Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) recently confirmed that it has completed its investigation into the accident that occurred on the West Linus jack-up rig, which occurred on 10 November 2022 while the rig was performing tasks at the Tommelyten field in the north of the country. Sea. , operated by ConocoPhillips.
The incident occurred during maintenance work on the port towline of the West Linus jack-up drilling rig, operated by Odfjell Technology. The regulator explained that the tow chain is a connected drum with cables/pipes through which power cables and hoses pass and which supplies water, drilling fluid and air to the boom rig as it slides between the various slots of the well.
According to PSA, the West Linus rig’s port towline is 115cm wide and consists of two cable trays positioned one above the other. One of its outer panels is damaged (bent), and a two-person team, consisting of the victim and his assistant, will examine the situation and think about what to do.
The victim had loosened a nut on one of the damaged tow chain side panels and was lying between the upper and lower tow chain when the upper part broke and part of the chain fell, pinning his arms and head. When police arrived at the scene of the injury to investigate, the weight of the collapsed structure was significant, with load cells on the offshore crane indicating around two tonnes.
The regulator stressed that the victim’s head and left arm were crushed, and due to crushing, he had to have his arm amputated between the shoulder and elbow. The worker’s assistant was not injured as a result of the incident, and drilling operations were stopped for 48 hours from the date of injury.
PSA said the most important immediate cause was a broken tow chain on the victim, which occurred after he loosened several nuts on the damaged side panel for repairs at a workshop.
”The work was not taken into account, planned and risks assessed in accordance with the requirements of the company’s management system. The root causes were the lack of control and management of technical condition, lack of control over the execution of work, deficiencies in management documents and procedures, acceptance procedures, clarity of roles and responsibilities Insufficient,” the regulator emphasized.
Although the incident occurred the day after the changeover from night to day work, it is unclear whether this affected the assessment of the risk associated with the renovation work. Maritime safety regulators stressed that in rare cases, an incident could have fatal consequences for victims and their helpers.
During the investigation, PSA identified seven violations. The non-conformities identified by the regulator include registration and classification, electronic chain procedures and job descriptions, roles and responsibilities, decision-making basis and safety clearances, compliance with guidance documents, noise and information during shifts and crew changes. In addition, the regulator has identified improvement points related to aggregation and POB.
Following the completion of the PSA investigation, the regulator gave Odfjell Technology until 23 March 2023 to report on how it has addressed these non-compliances and provide an assessment of the improvements it has observed.
The West Linus rig, built in 2014, has a long-term drilling contract with ConocoPhillips Scandinavia through the fourth quarter of 2028.
The rig is operated by Odfjell in accordance with agreements reached with SFL in February 2022. This allows the offshore drilling contractor to provide rig management services and replace Seadrill as rig manager immediately upon receiving regulatory approval from the Norwegian authorities.
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Post time: Dec-15-2023