Managing Survival Craft Operations at Offshore Facilities Guideline

Guidance to offshore industry personnel, vessel crews, training providers, and other maritime industry participants about safe working practices when operating, testing, and maintaining survival craft at offshore locations.

Sharing

Supporting Materials for the Guideline

Challenge

Lifeboats and FRCs are essential equipment on offshore oil and gas facilities. In order to maintain and exercise the use of these small vessels at offshore locations in changeable conditions, some safety risk is introduced that can (and has) result in significant consequences. A recent incident which resulted in two fatalities in the Gulf of Mexico confirms that lifeboat testing and recovery is a high-risk operation at offshore facilities. SOLAS requirements for lifeboat testing were designed for trading vessels.

Solution

Review options and identify solutions to reduce serious incidents involving launch and recovery of lifeboats and Fast Rescue Craft (FRCs).

Result

The Project Team has engaged with relevant stakeholders (e.g. Offshore Platforms; Rig Operators; FPSOs; FSOs; FLNG; Shore-Based Maintenance Teams; Lifeboat and FRC OEMs; Class Societies; and Regulators) to:

map the testing regime of launching/recovery to regulatory requirements
review the latest equipment innovations
seek to understand different facility operators’ issues and processes
examine previous incidents and lessons learnt
perform a literature review to identify practices employed in other parts of the world.

In September 2020 a risk workshop was conducted to examine the launch and recovery of lifeboats and FRCs to determine if the risk to personnel could be eliminated. Click here to watch a video recording of the webinar.

In. November 2022 the Marine Working Group launched the Managing Survival Craft Operations at Offshore Facilities Guideline.