Jupiter Flotel
….interest in offshore accidents quickly diminishes. The Pemex Jupiter semisubmersible quarters facility sank last week with 713 workers aboard (fortunately all were safely evacuated). This stunning near-disaster received minimal coverage. Follow-up reports are non-existent. As our friend JL Daeschler asked, how does a flotel capsize in calm conditions and shallow water? What went wrong and why? Let’s hope that a comprehensive investigation is conducted and that the findings are shared worldwide (unlike Venezuela’s handling of the Aban Pearl sinking).
As we have noted before, Macondo would have disappeared from the news within a week if the deadly fire and explosion had not been followed by a sustained oil spill. The only investigation would have been by Coast Guard and the Minerals Management Service (which would likely still exist). There would have been no National Commission, National Academy, Chemical Safety Board, or congressional investigations, and prosecution by the Justice Department would have been unlikely.
In the US, offshore spills are media events; other accidents are not. How much attention did the horrific fire and explosion that killed seven workers on the South Pass 60 B Platform receive in 1989? Virtually none. How about the lives lost in helicopter crashes? While the crash that killed 17 off Newfoundland in 2009 has been well studied and reported, offshore helicopter crashes in the US receive almost no attention. Ditto for crane accidents. If we want to build a proper safety culture, we need to pay as much attention to the low-profile accidents as we do the pollution spectaculars, and everyone needs to participate.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 
YES, you are so right , ” we need to pay attention to smaller details , low profile accidents …” and listen more. Situation offshore can deteriorate at great speed, and a minor fault could trigger far more serious consequences > disaster, hence need to encourage the reporting and observations of the people working together.
On a drilling/production semi sub, ballasting activities can be very demanding since variable deck loads have a great effect on draft and stability. In a matter of hours you loose or increase the deck load by 400/500 tons ie : running / cementing deep casing string. Free liquid surface is kept minimum and must be managed , so is pipe racks and mud pits, no weight shifting.
What surprise me on this floatel accident, is that there is little variation in deck load ? pretty well static with the occasional fuel/water and container supply. No colision, no dropped object , good weather .So may be everyone became so complascent and court by surprise in a minor emergency situation ?
I did not know about the seven lives lost at South Pars in 1989 but a contact alerted me to…
TURIN, Italy, April 15 (Reuters) – The chief executive of German steelmaker ThyssenKrupp’s (TKAG.DE) Italian unit, Herald Espenhahn, was sentenced to 16-1/2 years in jail on Friday over charges related to a fire that killed seven workers in 2007.
Four ThyssenKrupp officials — Marco Pucci, Gerald Pregnitz, Giuseppe Salerno and Cosimo Cafueri — received 13-1/2 year jail sentences, while Daniele Moroni received a sentences of 10 years and 10 months.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/15/thyssenkrupp-idUSLDE73E22V20110415
Arrivederci Alligatori? (See you later, alligator).