North Sea Mechanical Rescue Devices

[Ship Manager]

Thank you for your replies. There is going to be a further meeting in the very near future between BALPA, UK Oil & Gas, ERRVA (who represent the Stand-by boat operators) and other interested parties regarding mechanical recovery devices. If I get any feed back I will let you know.

RW&B. Just to clarify I’m not an OIM nor and oil company employee, and I’m not quite sure how you arrived at the conclusion I was going ballistic !
Recovery by FRC/DC is the preferred method but I would not say it is best practice. It is best practice in given weather conditions, and the Dacon Scoop is better practice in adverse conditions.
The Masters decision not to use boats is indeed based on risk to his crew during launching, operations, and the ability to recover FRC/ crew / casualties to the mother ship. However suggesting the Master is not willing to expose his crew to recovery by Scoop is a red herring / illogical. Who is going to launch a boat knowing they will probably have to rescue their own crew and at the same time have starved themselves of the very people who are going to operate the equipment !

332M BP may have introduced helicopters – but they had to keep the ships as well due to a few short comings of your wonderful machines. The best of both worlds, now there’s a thing!
Alas the preaching of “unqualified safety” is used too often by too many people to either justify or counter an argument. The concept of a practical pragmatic safety culture seems to get lost in polarised views that get put forward under the safety banner. Hopefully in this instance there will be healthy debate based on fact (not perception) and a correct conclusion arrived at.

Keep your feet dry,

SM