According to the Health and Safety Executive’s Offshore Division, who are responsible for ensuring North Sea installations operate safely, the backlog of maintenance work, amounting to tens of thousands of hours of work on ageing platforms, is causing "mounting concern".
Rust and corrosion on pipelines, stairways, safety and process equipment on oil installations of more than 30 years old has become a growing problem.
Mr. Ian Whewell, Head of the Offshore Division, said:
"The amount of work needed was posing a tremendous challenge. There is always some backlog, but I have seen between 20,000 and 30,000 man-hours of work needed at one installation. I think there are installations where the company needs to think seriously whether any solution other than shutting the platform is enough.
"The platforms are like old cars, if you don’t carry out maintenance every 12,000 miles, you have a backlog. The design life is less relevant than “intended life”, which is now being exceeded. The backlog of delayed maintenance built up when the oil price was weak is reaching crisis levels for some companies, which could lead to safety problems.
“There is tremendous pressure to keep oil flowing, but companies had to reflect whether their maintenance shutdowns are long enough. Unless they have proper shutdowns, things will go wrong.”
Since the Brent Bravo disaster in 2003, where 2 men died due to an explosion, caused by a massive leak, Shell, acknowledging that a significant investment was necessary, has since set aside £530 million in order to upgrade its North Sea platforms.
Britain's self-regulating system where the HSE cannot conduct spot checks on oil platforms without giving several week's notice, has been criticised by Mr. Jake Molloy, Head of the OILC offshore Oilworkers’ Union. He points out that in countries such as Norway Inspectors can visit platforms on demand.
However, Mr Whewell stated that the HSE had to work within its resources and said:
“In the end, the responsibility of managing safety is with the companies.”
Further information on the HSE's Offshore Division can be accessed by clicking the following:
The Oilworkers' Union, OILC can be accessed by clicking the following:
Article by Alexandra Johnston
