Management of the risk of collisions between vessels which are either passing, or operating in support of offshore installations is an important aspect of oil and gas operations to be addressed by the UK offshore industry. Recent incidents in the North Sea have demonstrated that such collisions can have major consequences in terms of loss of life, repair and production downtime costs.
An overview of the latest technologies being employed within the UK maritime industry which have the potential to benefit the oil and gas industry in the management of collision risk is contained in a report prepared by Anatec UK Ltd. The study builds on the previous work in this field carried out by HSE and Oil and Gas UK.
The report:
(i) Discusses the effects of recent offshore practices such as the use of multipurpose vessels and the practice of the sharing of standby vessels between installations and the affect of these practices on collision risk management and,
(ii) Provides an overview of several recent developments that have been introduced to the maritime industry which may offer benefit to the offshore industry in terms of collision risk management.
The work was jointly funded by Oil and Gas UK and HSE. The report will be used to ensure that the offshore industry in the UK Continental Shelf is aware of the changes and developments occurring in the international maritime industries that could be used to beneficial effect in the management of the major hazard of collision risk. In line with the concept of continuous improvement, such advances in the maritime industries can be used to bring about an improvement of industry standards in concordance with reasonable practicability.
Further information can be obtained from George Boothby, Offshore Division, HSE (George.boothby@hse.gsi.gov.uk) and the report entitled ‘Assessment of the benefits to the offshore industry from new technology and operating practices used in the shipping industry for managing collision risk’ is available for free downloading from the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/research/offshore.rrpdf.rr592.pdf .