NHC Secures Contract for Testing of The Sea Marshall (UK)

A North-east hyperbaric and UKAS testing facility has won a prestigious contract to test a piece of life saving equipment for the diving industry.

The National Hyperbaric Centre (NHC), based in Aberdeen, has recently taken on the testing of The Sea Marshall, a piece of equipment used by divers worldwide for alerting and locating a man overboard.

The Sea Marshall testing contract will ensure the compliance of the vital piece of safety equipment and will see it being tested at the facility in an 800 bar hyperbaric chamber for use of up to 100 meters of sea water to fully ensure the compliance of the equipment for the offshore industry.

It is a small piece of equipment that is worn by crewmember’s at risk of falling overboard and provides 24/7 monitoring. The equipment has a 30-year history of saving lives and is the leading Maritime Survivor Locating Devices (MSLD) worldwide and is industry standard for the North Sea. The self-activating equipment transmits an emergency homing signal that is received and tracked on a dedicated base unit.

The NHC, has been operating in the North-east for more than 20 years and offers a wide range of services from commercial diver training, hyperbaric welding and subsea testing and consulting. The training centre is a privately owned company, which boasts a team of experts with a wealth of knowledge of the oil and gas and diving industry.

Marketing Coordinator for the NHC, Allan Kendall said: “The diving industry is a sector which requires a lot of compliance and testing of equipment. It is vital that equipment is kept up to scratch with industry standard and that safety checks are regularly carried out. The Sea Marshall is a small piece of equipment that is vital to a diver or offshore worker and ultimately life saving. The contract further expands the NHC’s commitment to the safety of the offshore industry.”

In addition to providing hyperbaric pressure testing, the NHC, which was launched in 1987, also offers client representative support and training to global subsea organisations. The hyperbaric centre has a variety of pressure testing chambers at its facility including pressure test chambers rated to an operational depth of 8000 metres, a work chamber (rated to 1000 metres), saturation system (rated to 300 metres) and an outdoor water dive tank.

The company delivers a range of services including training courses, testing and trial facilities, altitude testing, research and development, auditing, diving medical support, equipment certification, senior consultancy and lifeboat reception.

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Press Release, January 11, 2013