The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) has issued Saipem SpA Norwegian Branch (Saipem) a notification of order following investigation of the stability incident on the semi-submersible “Scarabeo 8” drilling rig on 4 September 2012. The investigation proved serious breaches of the regulations.
On 4 September, the Scarabeo 8 semi-submersible drilling facility experienced unintentional heeling in connection with exploration drilling for Eni Norge on well 7220/10 in the Barents Sea.
The heeling reached approximately 7 degrees over the course of the incident. The incident is considered serious, but had no serious consequences as regards harm to people, the environment and assets.
The PSA decided to investigate the incident, focusing on Saipem’s management and securing of staffing and expertise, as well as relevant functions and systems in Saipem’s onshore organisation.
The investigation identified deficiencies in aspects that are key in operating prudent activities. This applies to, among other things, processes to ensure compliance with requirements for expertise in safety-critical functions and the use of information significant for safety and risk management.
The investigation group has identified four nonconformities that deal with management follow-up, compliance with internal requirements for securing expertise and nonconformity processing, including risk assessment.
Based on this, the PSA has issued the following order for Saipem:
“Pursuant to Section 6 of the Management Regulations relating to management of health, safety and the environment, Section 14 of the Management Regulations relating to manning and competence, and Section 24 of the Activities Regulations relating to procedures, cf. Section 69 of the Framework Regulations relating to administrative decisions, Saipem SpA Norwegian Branch is ordered to
Review how the company ensures management of processes, as well as compliance with its own requirements, related to staffing and expertise, and implement measures based on this review
Implement measures that ensure management of processes and compliance with requirements related to health, safety and the environment in the company in general
The deadline to comply with the order is 1 April 2013. We must be notified when the order has been complied with.”
[mappress] Press Release, December 18, 2012