WIRELINE ISSUE 28 SUMMER 2014

NEWS ROUND-UP

OIL & GAS UK

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CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY CHANGES TIMESCALES FOR OFFSHORE HELICOPTER SAFETY MEASURES The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced changes to two of its requirements aimed at improving offshore helicopter safety. This follows discussions with industry, helicopter operators, representatives of the offshore workforce and pilots. Firstly, the regulator has delayed its deadline for introducing seating restrictions on offshore flights from 1 June 2014 to 1 September 2014. These restrictions will mean that from September, unless improved emergency breathing systems (EBS) are provided, only passengers who are seated next to a push-out window exit can fly.

Deferral of the June deadline reflects evidence from industry that reducing helicopter capacity through seating restrictions would have had an adverse impact on safety critical maintenance planned for offshore installations over the summer, and that the first improved EBS units – which would remove the need for seating restrictions – wouldn’t be available before mid-July. The second change is that the EBS will now be compulsory from 1 January 2015 instead of 1 April 2016. Oil & Gas UK welcomes this news and hails it a significant step forward for offshore safety. MalcolmWebb, chief executive of Oil & Gas UK, says: “By adjusting the timescales to better align with the availability of the improved EBS, the CAA has facilitated the work of the annual turnaround season.” The industry, through Step Change in Safety, is now accelerating the introduction of the new EBS, accompanied with a significantly improved lifejacket for all passengers, and hopes to have the bulk of offshore workers equipped with these when flying offshore by September. Oil & Gas UK will continue to work collaboratively with the CAA on the introduction of the other recommendations and actions outlined in its safety review released earlier this year.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Please visit http://bit.ly/CAAannouncement and http://bit.ly/ OilandGasUKCAAresponse. Please contact Robert Paterson on rpaterson@oilandgasuk.co.uk.

www.caa.co.uk

2. FORMAL CONSULTATION ON EU OFFSHORE SAFETY DIRECTIVE A formal stakeholder consultation on the transposition of the EU Directive on offshore safety into UK law will be open from June until September. This follows extensive informal discussions between the industry, the Health and Safety Executive, and the Department of Energy & Climate Change on the prospective changes to UK legislation, due to be implemented by June 2015. Industry will continue to work closely with the regulators during this transposition period. For more information, please contact Robert Paterson on rpaterson@oilandgasuk.co.uk. The consultation document will be available at www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/directive.htm from late June.

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3. AGEING AND LIFE EXTENSION SEMINAR LAUNCHES FINAL HSE REPORT The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Key Programme 4 ageing and life extension (ALE) inspection project has concluded and a final report was released on 28 May at Oil &Gas UK’s seminar in Aberdeen. Over 200 people attended the event, which gave details on the key findings in the final report and expanded on the industry’s position on ALE. Susan Mackenzie and her colleagues from the HSE provided the regulator’s perspective on KP4 and offered suggestions for the industry’s long-term management of ALE. In addition, BP, ConocoPhillips and Nexen shared good practice for managing ageing assets and life extension. The full report is available to download at www.hse.gov.uk. Presentations from the seminar are available to download at http://bit.ly/KeyProgramme4. Oil & Gas UK has published three new guidelines on ALE management which are available to download at www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/ageing_and_life_extension.cfm.

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Susan Mackenzie, director of the Health and Safety Executive’s hazardous installations directorate, expanded on the findings from its Key Programme 4 report at a seminar on 28 May in Aberdeen

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