THIS is the moment an offshore crane dramatically collapsed and sent debris flying after an investigation revealed its health and safety features had been overridden.
Rowan Drilling (UK) Limited, based in Aberdeen, were fined £130,000 and served an Improvement Notice at the city‘s Sheriff Court today following the “catastrophic collapse” of the equipment on March 31, 2016.
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Although nobody was hurt in the incident, inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) described the incident as an “accident waiting to happen”.
Five crew members of the Rowan Gorilla VII were on board when the crane operator raised the boom to clear one of the three legs of the installation, and it failed “catastrophically” and collapsed.
Debris from the collapse of the crane damaged a nearby vessel Solvik Supplier, with additional 13 staff aboard.
The incident also caused a cement hose to whip out of control before rupturing leaving behind a thick cloud of concrete dust.
It happened offshore in the North Sea as staff were preparing to recover a faulty submersible pump.
HSE found the immediate cause of the crane collapse was that Rowan Drilling (UK) Limited had not checked that a limit switch, designed to prevent the crane boom being raised to the point of mechanical failure, had been correctly set.
Three of the four boom sections fell to sea between the rig and the ‘Solvik Supplier’ supply vessel which was pumping dry cement to the rig via a flexible hose.
The crane’s auxiliary hook, cables, components, and rig debris landed on the deck of the Solvik Supplier.
The boom tip snagged the flexible hose, dragging it below the sea surface, causing it to rupture and whip back onto the deck of the vessel engulfing it in fine cement dust.
The HSE investigation found that safety mechanisms, designed to prevent inadvertent operation of the slew, hoist, and boom joystick controls in the port bow crane cabin had all been overridden to prevent them returning to their locked neutral position.
An Improvement Notice was served on the company to remedy issues relating to the limit switches and management issues identified.
Rowan Drilling (UK) Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
The company were fined £130,000 at Aberdeen Sheriff Court.
HSE inspector Brian Kennedy said: “It was pure luck that nobody was seriously hurt or died as a result of these failings.
“As with so many incidents, the circumstances leading to the collapse of the port bow crane on the RGVII were years in the making and symptomatic of a defective safety management system that allowed those conditions to exist and persist.
“This was quite simply an accident waiting to happen and illustrates the vital importance of maintaining and testing crane limit switches to ensure they will always provide the intended level of protection.”
