Norwegian offshore safety watchdog, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has decided to investigate an incident involved a dropped object on Equinor’s Åsgard B facility off Norway on March 13, 2019.
The Åsgard field is located in Haltenbanken in the Norwegian Sea, around 200 kilometers off mid-Norway and 50 kilometers south of the Heidrun field. Åsgard B is a semi-submersible gas and condensate processing platform, which came on stream on October 1, 2000.
The PSA said last Friday that this incident had occurred while dismounting a trolley from a lifting beam on the main deck of the semi-submersible gas platform in the Norwegian Sea.
Three people participated in the lifting operation. The area was cordoned off, but one person from the lifting team was inside the cordon. This meant they were hit by the trolley when it fell. The trolley weighed about 80 kilograms and dropped about five meters.
Operator Equinor has defined the injury suffered as a first-aid case.
Following the PSA’s decision to investigate this incident, an investigation team has started the work.
Objectives for their work include clarifying the course of events, describing the actual and potential consequences, and identifying direct and underlying causes in order to contribute to learning and experience transfer.
The investigation will result in a report and, in addition to its own investigation, the PSA will provide technical support to the police in connection with its own inquiry into the incident.