Norway: Workers Injured at Kvaerner’s Yard

A serious accident in conjunction with a lifting operation occurred at Kvaerner’s yard at Verdal Wednesday 8 February.  The accident occurred Wednesday afternoon. Three persons fell from hight when they were working at the Kvaerner yard at Verdal. They were working in a basket from a crane when the basket became dislodged from the crane.

Three injured

Three persons have been injured. A Norwegian woman employed in BIS industrier, a Norwegian man employed in Bring and a Romanian man working as a paint inspector on behalf of Kvaerner’s customer RWE Innogy. The occupational health service at the Verdal yard was active from the start and the Kvaerner was offered assistance from the emergency action group from the municipality of Verdal. The injured are being treated at St. Olavs Hospital in Trondheim. Wednesday morning the hospital reported that the condition of the three is stable, but serious. The relatives of the three are present at the hospital.

Common operation

The use of crane-suspended work baskets is a common operation at the yard in conjunction with the construction of steel substructures. Kvaerner has a permit for this type of operation from the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. As a safeguard against accidents, the yard has procedures for this type of lifting operations. The equipment that is used is certified and the personnel using it have been trained to perform lifting operations.

Reasons are being investigated

Answers to the questions concerning the reasons for this incident will not be given until the police, Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority and Kvaerner’s internal investigation team have made their investigations. Technical, operational and the human interaction in the lifting operation are parts of the investigation performed by Kvaerner.

Measures taken

There have been taken measures with regards to transport of personnel where one additional ground crew must be present. This measure will be active as long as the investigation is ongoing.

“Our sympathy and compassion are with the victims and their relatives.” says Kvaerner in a release.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, February 9, 2012