Prosafe in breach of regulations after ‘Safe Scandinavia’ probe

Norwegian safety body, the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), has slapped Prosafe with a notification of order regarding the company not rectifying non-conformities spotted during an audit of the Safe Scandinavia tender support vessel (TSV) in September 2015.

The Safe Scandinavia is an accommodation rig which was converted to a TSV in 2015. This meant that the facility would be able to assist in production drilling on fixed installations by processing drilling mud and cuttings.

The rig is currently under contract with Statoil at the Oseberg Øst installation, offshore Norway.

In September 2015, the PSA conducted an audit to verify that Prosafe has implemented all the necessary analyses and measures during the conversion which would ensure that the Safe Scandinavia complies with regulations within the disciplines of technical safety, maintenance, and emergency preparedness.

The audit then revealed ten non-conformities regarding barrier strategies and performance standards, maintenance system, pressure safety valves, preservation, activation of fire extinguishing systems, emergency shutdown system, risk and emergency preparedness analyses, training and exercises, raft stations, and evacuation routes.

Apart from the non-conformities, the PSA had identified four improvement points in connection with training, use of fire extinguishing systems, overpressure and underpressure, and competence.

From September 19-21 2016, the PSA carried out yet another audit of the Safe Scandinavia. One of the goals of the audit was to verify how Prosafe handled non-conformities identified during the September 2015 audit.

Breach of regulations

PSA said on Wednesday that some of these non-conformities, notably relating to maintenance management, were not followed up by the company. The safety body views this as ‘a serious breach of the regulatory requirements for follow-up and non-conformity handling.’

In regards to the breach, PSA issued the following notification of order:

“We order Prosafe AS to review the company’s system for follow-up of identified non-conformities, such that the non-conformities are rectified, the causes mapped and corrective measures implemented in order to prevent recurrence of the non-conformities. The outcome of the measures is to be evaluated.”

The notification of an order is not an administrative or legally binding instrument. It is only the first step before an administrative decision is made. A notification is followed by an order which is considered a strongly preventive instrument which is legally binding on the recipient.

PSA informed Prosafe that the deadline for complying with the order is January 15, 2017. Also, Prosafe was told to inform the PSA when the order has been carried out.

The Safe Scandinavia was built in 1984 at Aker Verdal yard to an Aker H-3.2 design. It was upgraded in 2003 and completed a life extension refurbishment in 2014.