IOGP high potential event report

Incident description:

Three persons were walking on the platform spider deck walkway when suddenly a floor grating panel broke under the weight of one of them. The person fell into the gap, but managed to cling to the ladder that he was carrying with another person, which prevented him from falling into the sea. He was immediately rescued by his colleagues. He received minor bruises on the left arm. All persons were wearing self-inflatable life jackets during the incident.

What Went Wrong:

The panel had been badly corroded. During a grating inspection by a contractor in 2017 the inspector had only carried out a visual inspection and assessed a low level of rust (grade 7-G). No intrusive test was performed. There had been a lack of specification about rust level assessment for gratings, leading to inspector’s own interpretation. The extent of the corrosion had also not been verified by company’s expert team as the level of rust had been rated as low in the final inspection report. Though daily hazard hunts are being performed by the operations team, the spider deck area was not mapped as part of the site routine hazard hunt walkabout and is seldom accessed.

Corrective Actions:

- Company expert team to establish calibration of acceptance/failure criteria for grating assessment and competency criteria (focusing on grating assessment) for inspectors during topside structure inspection. - Company expert team to be consulted to review topside structure inspection reports, especially on the domain of corrosion activity. Develop standard operating procedure for topside structure inspection and cascade the requirements to relevant disciplines. - Routine hazard hunts and housekeeping to include every part of the platform and not focusing on places where there are more activities. - Periodic maintenance and surveillance for the gratings located at the sea deck, spider deck and boat landing area as these gratings are more exposed to harsh environment condition (splash zone). Corroded grating to be changed out. - Practice extra vigilance if personnel would like to access spider deck area; PTW coordinator to explain risks associated with this area.