Maersk Drilling slapped with safety order after fatal incident

Norway’s offshore safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has turned a notice of order given to Maersk Drilling following a fatal accident on the Maersk Interceptor drilling rig into a formal order.

To remind, one offshore worker died and one was injured in an incident on December 7, 2017, on the Aker BP-operated Tambar field offshore Norway. The incident took place on the Maersk Drilling-owned Maersk Interceptor jack-up rig.

The deceased, a Norwegian citizen and employee of Maersk Drilling, fell into the sea during maintenance work on the rig.

To clarify the course of events and identify the direct and indirect causes of the incident in order to contribute to learning and experience transfer, the PSA began investigating the incident on December 8, 2017,

Order to Maersk Drilling Norge

The PSA said on Monday, January 8 that Maersk Drilling Norge was given a formal order following the completed investigation of the accident.

The accident on the rig occurred during the installation of a new seawater pump. As part of its investigation of the incident, the PSA was on board the unit from December 9-13, 2017.

The PSA gave Maersk a notice of order on January 4 and at the time stated that it “identified serious shortcomings in systems and processes for materials handling.”

In the notice of order, the PSA said that Maersk Drilling had to review systems for follow-up and use of portable lifting equipment on all facilities in use on the Norwegian continental shelf, including internal control, training of personnel using such equipment and transferring experience with using such equipment.

Also, the company was told to systematically identify and review all operations related to the materials handling process for the installation of seawater pumps on all facilities in use on the Norwegian continental shelf, identify risks and implement necessary measures.

The PSA added on Monday that the deadline for compliance with the order was February 28. Maersk Drilling is requested to present a plan for complying with the order no later than January 15, 2018.

To clarify, an order is an administrative decision and a strongly preventive instrument which is legally binding on the recipient, in this case, Maersk Drilling.