The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board issued a statement according to which the operations on a Transocean-owned drilling rig operating for Suncor Energy offshore Canada were suspended following the injury of an offshore worker.
Specifically, the Canadian regulator informed that an employee on the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Transocean Barents was injured while preparing the rig for forecasted weather. The worker was caught between a steel adapter weighing 1400kg and a rail during crane operations.
In light of the injury, the operations were halted and the medic and response team were called. Therefore, the injured one was transmitted by a medevac to St. John’s on Friday afternoon, September 6, and currently is in stable condition and remains in hospital under observation.
The incident had the potential for fatality.
The Canadian regulator ordered that operations were suspended and the area was secured. For the time being, all drilling operations are stopped and will not begin until Suncor has received approval from the C-NLOPB to do so.
Back in 2018, the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Transocean Barents was under investigation due to an unauthorized discharge of synthetic based mud (SBM) that was reported.