Cost Cuts Should Not Affect Safety, Maersk CEO says
Published in Oil Industry News on Tuesday, 28 April 2015
Maersk
launches its Global Safety Day, engaging employees throughout the Group
in discussions of how to support the Group’s safety awareness.The Global Safety Day coincides with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work, an annual international campaign organized by the United Nation’s International Labour Organization.
According to Maersk, employees at sea and onshore have the opportunity to participate in a range of activities, including town halls, safety workshops and online campaigns. The event line-up marks the first-ever Maersk Group Global Safety Day where all Maersk business units take collective action.
“While we operate in challenging and sometimes harsh work environments, it is our responsibility to ensure that our employees return safely to their homes and families after work. That focus is central to the value Constant Care and defines the way we do business,” says Group CEO Nils S. Andersen.
“Regrettably we’ve experienced a number of fatalities in our operations in the past year. There is no excuse for serious or fatal workplace injuries, and we are urgently working towards an incident-free operation. We fundamentally believe that every accident can be prevented.” Yes, folks. After these people had all these accidents and fatalities decided to perform this lip service so that they reduce their insurance premiums.
Cost-cutting not contradictory to safety
Given the volatility of the oil price, the oil-related businesses in particular have instigated a cost-reduction mindset, Maersk said. However, according to its CEO, this does not mean compromising on safety. Of course this is just lip service.
“Contrary to popular belief, cost leadership and safety go hand-in-hand. We can only streamline and improve performance if we take a structured, well-planned approach, and that means prioritizing safety. Our license to operate and continue executing on strategy simply depends on it,” Nils S. Andersen says.
Safety leadership
One key to safety is leadership, whatever this means. It is not enough to set up guidelines and procedures. It is up to the management teams on the ground to ensure employees understand they risk their lives if the procedures are not followed. This is not leadership, it is called training the employees, taking time to do the tasks properly and establish well-thought and previously-tested/practiced emergency procedures.
“Every business has invested in safety initiatives to address individual challenges and progress toward the goal of zero incidents. APM Terminals, for example, faces unique challenges related to the high number of outside contractors, truckers and suppliers coming in and out of its terminals.
The business is focused on managing the safety practices of outside contractors. It has also, like Maersk Drilling and Svitzer, adopted a principle of empowering all employees, regardless of rank, to stop unsafe operations,” says Bent Nielsen, Head of Marine Standards in Svitzer who has been coordinating campaign efforts on behalf of the Sustainability Council. Of course this is BS, as a company need to show that it can deliver on safety and not merely pass the buck to the poor trained workers.
The Group CEO also encouraged employees to bring their good working habits home with them.
“While working at Maersk, you enter the tradition of taking care of one another. With this year’s umbrella theme for Global Safety Day, ‘Safe at Work – Safe at Home,’ I urge all our employees across the Group to focus on safety as a priority and to create environments where safety is deeply-rooted in behaviour, performance and company culture – whether at home or at work.”
Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com
Maersk Victory
Rig: | Maersk Victory Jack-Up |
Date: | 16 Nov 1996 |
Location: | Gulf Saint Vincent, South Australia |
Operator: | Apache Energy Ltd for Canyon (Australia) P/L |
Introduction
The Ocean Victory jack-up was a type 300C-35, constructed by Mitsui Ocean Development & Engineering Co. Ltd, Japan, and delivered in August 1981. From 1981, the rig worked in the Persian Gulf in a number of locations offshore UAE and Qatar. In October 1986, the rig suffered explosion and fire damage to the aft port corner and to legs #2 and #3 after an air attack during the Iran/Iraq war. It was transferred to Australia in April 1986 and worked in the North West Shelf from April to Oct 1986 before a dry tow on the Super Servant 3 relocated the rig to South Australia in November 1996.1996 Punch-Through
Once offloaded from the Super Servant 3, the Maersk Victory was towed onto location by the Massive Tide, with the Canning Tide sailing alongside in support. En-route, the position surveyor noticed the absence of a site survey on the rig and attempts were made to have one made available. Once on location in the early hours of 16 Nov 1996, the legs of the Maersk Victory were jacked down and the rig 'walked' onto location, with the help of the Massive Tide. The first attempt at jacking-up at 0630 hours aimed to achieve the 2m preload airgap, which resulted in the settling of leg #2 by 2m. The rig was then jacked down until level and then successfully jacked back up to a 2m airgap.After waiting for the arrival of a helicopter at 0825 hours, preloading continued from 1000 hours. One third of the way through the pre-loading, at 1032 hours, the rig suddenly listed down to starboard, causing the sea to wash over the deck. After two or three punches, the rig stabilised and unsuccessful attempts were made to jack the rig down. Inspections revealed that legs #1 and #2 were severely damaged along their lengths. At 1035, the rig was evacuated using the fast rescue craft of the Canning Tide. In the afternoon, the rig was made watertight and the preload water was dumped.
Extensive damage to all three of the jack-up's legs resulted in divers cutting the hull free of the legs to allow the hull to be towed back to a safe anchorage near Port Adelaide. The legs of the rig were subsequently salvaged by Dockwise using the Dock Express 10 over December 1996 and January 1997 and delivered, along with the hull, to the Far East Levingston Ship Building company in Singapore for repairs.
