BackDROPS FORUM - Aberdeen UK, 9th February 2011
Greg Reid opened the Forum and gave a Safety Brief. Many new members and visitors were present and introductions were made.
DROPS Update – Greg Reid, DROPS
Pack Sales: A further 9 campaign packs subscribed since our last Aberdeen forum, all from Asia / USA region.
Membership: Delighted to welcome following new members - CAN Offshore (UK), Maersk Oil (UK), Orange Offshore (Norway) and Access Integrity Management (UK). A truly diverse and global membership now. Most recently, K2 (Malaysia) and TAQA (UK) have advised us that they will be joining DROPS imminently.
DROPS International: DROPS USA is now back on track. They had a forum in November, their next meeting is scheduled for later this month and a forum is planned for May 3rd. DROPS Asia held a forum in Brunei (over 100 attendees) and the next DROPS Asia forum will be on April 6th in Singapore. DROPS Asia also prepare regular regional newsletter which we can all download at DROPS website.
Inaugural DROPS Forum in Middle East region held at end of November was met with great passion and interest. A conference call later this month with all interested in taking ME chapter forward. DROPS Training and Awareness undertaken in Oman, Dubai, Indonesia, Nigeria, Holland and Norway. Further DROPS Training forthcoming in Oman (desert well sites), Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and NW Australia. Training will be available in Houston to coincide with Forum.
DROPS Forums: Structure of Forums: Exploit venue availability before and after forum for Focus Groups; Revised Catering Arrangements; Monitor commercial content of presentations; Assign presentation slots to members (2 per forum). Can we have volunteers for next Forum please? If you wish to volunteer, please email in the first instance secretary@dropsonline.org Our last forum in Amsterdam was a great success (not enough seats!).
Click here for Event Calendar of forthcoming events.
Initiatives and Cross-industry Exchange
Industry Statistics : We presented at Step Change/Marine Safety Joint Seminar, Working at Height Conference in Norway, Materials at Height Workgroup (Harsco), Supporting SNS Pool 2011
Safety Alerts: A number of Safety Alerts issued since last forum, most recently MSF alert on falling wood during crane ops and Chevron pointer on two-piece hacksaws. Are you all receiving these? As ever, please send us details of any relevant safety alerts or flashes. Send to admin@dropsonline.org
2010 Focus Issues and Achievements
Our second Rogues Gallery was installed at CHC Helicopter Terminal here in Aberdeen. Please continue to donate your exhibits to help us refresh the galleries.
Eventually, the electronic DROPS calculator was published and we agreed to the development of a DROPS Calculator iPhone App Three new best practices were completed and published for download from this website (see Guidance Documents and Best Practice):
- DROPS Restricted Access Areas (Red Zones)
- DROPS Pre-Task Checks
- Common Standard for DROPS Inspection and Survey
Our focus group looking into the Tools at Height Best Practice met again before today’s forum to review latest progress.
We published a useful Subsea Dropped Objects Matrix, highlighting typical equipment and the potential consequences of these items falling subsea in terms of drop cone angle, drop radius and impact energy.
We developed a new DROPS poster set (copies issued today) for download from website.
We took opportunity to refresh existing poster sets.
We produced and developed our Winter Awareness posters in English, Norwegian and Dutch. Our focus now turns to a Summer DROPS Awareness poster (heightened activity/shutdowns etc) for 2011. A further call for suggestions and information will be issued with minutes.
Our Website has been completely restructured making it easier to navigate, update and download information. We also have the new and more fitting domain name www.dropsonline.org
DORIS, our dropped objects statistical database, is one of our major success stories for 2010 and is fully up and running on the website. Allen presented in greater detail later with the new website.
The Way Ahead in 2011
All new 2010 products, materials, alerts, communications and posters etc were issued in the recent campaign pack updates but we will be looking to completely refresh and overhaul the Campaign Workpack in 2011
The DROPS Training Programme will also require major update in 2011.
Several existing focus issues will continue into 2011, eg Tools at Heights, Summer DROPS Campaign and ongoing population of DORIS.
All will have the opportunity later today to select and participate in further new Focus Groups for 2011
We are planning a Spring issue of the FullStop newsletter and we are seeking a sponsor or shared sponsors. Please help if you can. We also welcome your suggestions for articles or topics at admin@dropsonline.org
We seek promotional opportunities at OTC and Offshore Europe We will continue to promote the regular DROPS Training Sessions in Aberdeen.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
HSE Update – Donald Dobson, HSE
The 2010 yearly dropped object statistics as registered with the HSE were presented by Donald. These were broken down into the quarterly totals from 2008 to 2010. The presentation highlighted areas where the incident occurred. A description list of a few incidents that were reported was also included.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
Dropped Object from Varco PRS3i – Donald Cumming, BG Group
Donald gave a brief background on the incident. An axle retaining block (2lbs) fell 51ft to the rig floor. There was a red zone in place. The job was stopped and a time out for safety was held. Once the investigation was done, the incident was down-classed due to the red zone being in place. Findings included that this incident had been highlighted in the past by Varco and there were recommendations to undertake. The bulletin had not been seen by the rig owner. One of the coaching opportunities that BG are putting in place is to make sure that proper Dropped Object surveys are undertaken and that secondary retention is put in place where possible.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
Lifting Gear in the Crown – Keith Little, Servtech
Keith was given the opportunity to ask attendees about their experiences with lifting gear in the crown. This mainly focussed on the sheave blocks with built in secondary retention in head fitting and sheave shaft. The question asked were: Are safety slings required? What is the current best practice? Servtech are looking for any advice. The recommendation from Norway is that no additional secondary retention is required. If anyone has any recommendations/ solutions, please send an email in the first instance to secretary@dropsonline.org and will get passed on to Servtech.
Follow this link to download a background slide.
Marine Safety Forum Update – Phil Brown, ASCO
Phil’s presentation highlighted the increasing problem and danger with items found tucked away into Containers and kit that is transported to and from offshore. The presentation included a variety of pictures of items that have all been experienced by members of the Marine sector. Phil also had a selection of items with him that had been found on top of units, in forklift pocks, on top of containers. This demonstrated clearly that checks are not always done offshore for items left inside pockets or on top of containers/units. Some items were found on Lorries that are transporting units on our roads and have every chance of landing on somebody’s car. Chevron highlighted that there is a checklist available on their rigs that gives the ownership to the rig team and since introducing that, they have a high success rate in eliminating these types of incidents.
Follow this link to download a copy of the checklist.
Follow this link to download the presentation.
DORIS – Allen Smith, DROPS
Allen recapped on DORIS and we saw the purpose of the database. A general overview was given and we saw the statistics that are currently available but currently only a few members are inputting data. To make this a success, all members are encouraged to use the database for inputting their data. If you do not have your log on and password, please email admin@dropsonline.org
Oil & Gas Cargo Handling Guidelines – Greg Reid, DROPS
Greg asked the attendees for input for the Dropped Object section in the O&G Cargo Handling Guidelines. Derek Birse is part of the Work Group that put these existing guidelines together and advised that the guidelines were last updated in 2008. Every month this group is meeting to update the guidelines and are looking to strengthen the Dropped Object section. If anyone has any ideas and wish to let us know, please email admin@dropsonline.org and Derek Birse, BOL.
2011 Way Forward Open Floor and Any Other Business
Greg invited the attendees to offer any issues for further discussion and also suggestions for Focus Group issues for 2011 in the open floor session. The Amsterdam forum in September 2010 identified some areas that they wish to be considered. Suggestions from Aberdeen forum included:
- Campaign Pack Update
- Drops Training/T-T-T Update
- Green Hat Campaign
- Marine Awareness Course – work with them, share best practices
- Opito/Step Change - investigate opportunities to provide DROPS best practice learnings for MIST and other recognised courses
- Make DROPS even more Production relevant
- Preparing personnel for automated rigs/systems and new technology
- Translations / language free
- Safety meeting pack/DROPS products i.e. presentation about recent item and follow it through the logistics chain
- Consider back-loading checks as recommendations/standard
- Slinging/anchor handling – translation and level of ability/understanding amongst crews
- Broaden DROPS contacts
If you have any other suggestion for a focus issue then please email it before 25 February to admin@dropsonline.org. After this, we will communicate the definitive Focus Issues for 2011 and call for volunteer focus group members and focus group input.
A request from an Asian member has been raised and we are looking for responses to pass onto them. They are experiencing a lot of nipped finger incidents because of components being poorly secured in cargo baskets. Does anyone have any examples of how to secure equipment in baskets and also, if you have had similar incidents and have Lessons Learned to share, then please pass onto us via secretary@dropsonline.org.
Phil shows real examples of actual and potential dropped objects from the marine logistics sector.