Posted in Health, Regulation, tagged Coast Guard, OCS, OSHA, vaccine mandate on September 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »
and they will presumably do so with an emergency final rule. This will be interesting. Over-under on the days until publication? Number of public comments?
And since the Coast Guard functions as OSHA on the Outer Continental Shelf, will they be enforcing the offshore industry’s compliance with this mandate? BSEE inspectors?
Posted in Gulf of Mexico, Health, Offshore Energy - General, tagged Coast Guard, Hoover Diana on August 21, 2021| Leave a Comment »
A Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station Houston, Texas, medevacs an oil rig crew member experiencing a cardiac event on the Hoover-Diana oil platform, 150 miles east of Corpus Christi, Texas, Aug. 19, 2021. The helicopter crew successfully transported the man to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, in stable condition. (U.S. Coast Guard video, courtesy Sector/Air Station Corpus Christi)
US Coast Guard
But what happened to industry medevac capabilities? Or is this simply a matter of Hoover-Diana’s isolation?
Posted in accidents, Australia, Health, NOPSEMA, NOPSEMA, offshore, tagged curtin university, mental health, NOPSEMA, offshore oil, safety on July 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »
Following the Piper Alpha tragedy (1988) and the Exxon Valdez spill (1989), the Minerals Management Service, under the direction of Dr. Charles Smith, embarked on new research to address the human and organizational factors that are fundamental to offshore safety. An important 1993 report, MMS project 167, Management of Human Error in Operation of Marine Systems by Robert Bea and William Moore, observed that:
“High consequence accidents resulted from a multiplicity of compounding sequences of breakdowns in the human, organization, and system; often there are precursors or early-warning indications of the breakdowns that are not recognized or are ignored.” The human element is complex and “states” such as “fatigue, negligence, ignorance, greed, folly, wishful thinking, mischief, laziness, excessive use of drugs, bad judgement, carelessness, physical limitations, boredom, and inadequate.” Environmental factors such as weather conditions, time of day, smoke, and noise further complicate human performance.
Bea and Moore, 1993
COVID 19 has further complicated human performance and facility management. In an effort to better understand human factors during COVID, NOPSEMA (the Australian offshore safety regulator) has partnered with industry, and labor organizations, and universities to survey offshore workers.
Per the survey announcement:
Your unique insight on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on members of the offshore workforce are vital to informing industry and the development of strategies that best support employee mental health and well-being.
BOE is looking forward to learning about the results of this survey and other efforts to better assess and understand mental health challenges facing offshore workers. The effective integration of mental health considerations into management systems is critical to safety achievement.
Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE) 