ABZ P&J.
MPs change copter stance
by Jeremy Cresswell and David Perry
Aberdeen MPs did an about-turn last night on BP Amoco's proposals for a helicopter-based North Sea safety regime.
Their change in stance followed a private briefing from senior company executives in the Commons and raises a huge questionmark over the future of a large part of the North-east's safety vessel fleet and 6,000 on and offshore jobs.
The city's three Labour MPs were told that besides platform-based helicopters, the proposed package would include:
New wrist-watch style personal locators with a 15-mile range, vastly improving the chance of speedy location of casualties in the water.
More comfortable new technology immersion clothing worn as underwear, increasing survival time dramatically.
Fast surface safety boats launchable from platforms.
Aberdeen Central MP Frank Doran said afterwards it had been an extraordinarily good meeting at which serious concerns raised with them by the Emergency Response Rescue Vessel Association (ERRVA) were discussed in detail.
He said the BP Amoco concept was at an early stage, with implementation two to three years away depending on further research, consultations and the approval of the Health and Safety Executive.
Mr Doran said workers off-platform often failed to wear full survival suits because they were so bulky as to make normal work difficult, requiring those who did fall overboard to be reached within four minutes. New technology, which is expected on the market in August, would enable them to survive longer and be found faster, he said.
Mr Doran said: "The price is the potential removal of standby vessels in the North Sea with serious implications for jobs and vessel owners, but there is the possibility of significantly increasing safety offshore, and that has to be the priority."
Aberdeen South MP Anne Begg said MPs had been able to hear the other side of the story for the first time and believe that if what BP Amoco proposed came to fruition and everything worked as planned, it would hopefully lead to increased safety.
She said safety experts believed improvements on platforms made another Piper Alpha disaster an unreasonable possibility and that in any event, all platforms now had refuges from which rescues would more easily be performed by helicopters than by boats.
Miss Begg said: "You cannot hold back advances in safety just to protect jobs. But it is our responsibility to make sure everyone affected is able to redeploy – perhaps to manning platform-launched boats – or be retrained for other jobs."
Aberdeen North MP Malcolm Savidge called for the new equipment to be also adopted by fishermen. "The new technology clothing and locators could lead to huge improvements in safety if they were adopted by the fishing fleet."
North Sea trade unions broadly welcomed BP's initiative, which came to light at the end of last month. Since then, however, scepticism has set in, largely because of the concerns raised by ERRVA.
Last weekend, the organisation's chairman, Jeremy Daniel, said there were certain situations where a helicopter simply could not substitute for a ship. He said they could not:
Rescue survivors from beneath an offshore installation.
Operate in the vicinity of a gas cloud.
Easily provide back-up rescue capability if one is unavailable for whatever reason.
He said: "If these plans are adopted, the rescue cover offered will be significantly less than that currently
available."
Trade union OILC on Saturday called for a Scottish Parliamentary inquiry into the BP proposal, even though its leader Jake Molloy is, in principle, in favour of helicopter-based rescue systems. Other unions
are reserving final judgment pending further consultation.