Seacroft Marine Consultants, Aberdeen-based maritime specialist, has launched 500m zone management assurance and auditing for offshore installations following the training courses for offshore installation personnel to help address safety concerns
The new assurance process aims to monitor operational safety standards to help installations manage ship movements when they come close to platforms.
The company said that it focuses on raising awareness of the need to control marine operations inside the 500m zone around offshore installations following health and safety executive concerns regarding the control and monitoring of support vessels.
With 97 per cent of collisions occurring within the 500m zone involving vessels there on legitimate business, the company aims to provide guidance, recommendations and training courses on how to improve existing practises and safety and now ongoing assurance to verify that standards continue to be maintained.
Michael Cowlam, technical director at Seacroft Marine Consultants, noted, “Vessels colliding with offshore installations have long been considered a major risk, and there is a new focus on having more robust and effective procedures in place to address this.
“While collisions are relatively uncommon, there have been a number of incidents in recent years which have led to increasing concern from the HSE and other industry organisations about the potential risks involved,” he added.
“As well as this, planning and communication is essential, along with awareness of both good and bad practices. This is where we can help and we would urge any company looking at this aspect of their operations to get in touch with us and find out more,” he further explained.
The next stage of the project will see a review of potential technical solutions to identify products which can further enhance monitoring of vessel approach speeds, headings and proximity to offshore installations with more precision using instruments and on-screen displays onboard the installation.
