UK: Crane incident on North Sea platform spurs investigation
Murchison platform
A crane collapsed on a platform in the UK sector of the North Sea prompting an investigation by the operating company that notified the Health and Safety Executive of the incident.
According to BBC, the incident happened early on Wednesday on CNR International-operated Murchison platform, located 280 nautical miles North of Aberdeen, during a lifting operation.
No injuries were reported and all 102 personnel on board the platform were safe and well, the news agency reported.
Offshore Energy Today reached out to CNR seeking confirmation of these reports.
The company’s spokesperson confirmed the incident occurred on Wednesday: “There has been significant damage to the boom on one of the Murchison platform cranes following an incident that occurred during a lifting operation yesterday (9th March).”
The spokesperson also added: “The cause of the incident is still being established, however as a precaution, all crane operations on the platform have been suspended.”
The CNR International owned and operated Murchison field is located in the Northern North Sea Block 211/19, north of Aberdeen in the East Shetland Basin, straddling the United Kingdom/Norwegian sector median line.
The decommissioning activities at the Murchison platform started in the fourth quarter of 2013, and the company estimated the decommissioning efforts would continue for approximately 5 years.
This is not the first time for an accident to happen on the Murchison platform after the decommissioning started. Namely, an injured offshore worker had to be airlifted from the platform to a hospital in December 2014 after being struck by a pipe.
================================================= Investigation after Rowan Drilling crane boom collapses on North Sea rig
Written by Niamh Burns - 06/29/2016
An investigation is underway after the extraction of crude petroleum from a jack-up rig in the North Sea when a crane boom collapsed.
Rowan Drilling has been hit with an improvement notice after a crane boom collapsed, resulting in two pieces of the boom falling to the sea, with the remaining piece resting on the rig.
The incident resulted in three of the jack-up rigs six lifeboats being rendered inoperative.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said and the investigation into the incident, which happened at the end of March, is still ongoing.
It’s understood the Gorilla VII jack-up rig had been operating as an “offshore installation” meaning it was on location at the time of the incident.
In an improvement notice to the company, the HSE said: “Following investigation of the Rowan Gorilla VII port bow crane collapse which revealed deficiencies in the effective control, monitoring and review of preventative and protective measures for safe crane operations as evidenced by the discovery that: all crane secondary upper boom limit switches were incorrectly set such that they would not provide the required boom protection.
“All crane slew, hoist and boom lever neutral position indents had been overridden such that they could be inadvertently operated.
“Crane cab display units were incorrectly calibrated with the boom angle.
“Crane operators were unaware of the correct upper boom limits, access to control switches in the machinery house were not adequately controlled.
“The port bow crane slew limits had been grossly exceeded causing damage to the crane electrical cables and restricting cables and restricting crane movement and the primary boom limit switch of the port bow crane was overridden.”
The incident comes after another accident involving a crane on CNR’s Murchison platform.
A lessons learned report found that it was a “high potential” incident.
The Murchison platform is located in the Northern North Sea, 280 nautical miles North of Aberdeen.