After several recent safety incidents happened, involving cranes and lifting appliances, the US Coast Guard will cooperate with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to start a joint inspections campaign focusing on crane material condition, operations, maintenance and safety management.
Crane operations are an area of high risk offshore. According to BSEE data, over 175 crane incidents were reported between 2016-2017. In its annual performance reports the Center for Offshore Safety has highlighted mechanical lifting and lowering as a safety performance indicator involving incidents with learning opportunities. BSEE recently released Safety Alert #329 on Potentially Catastrophic Crane and Lifting Incidents, in which it presented incidents, which could have resulted in catastrophic consequences for personnel and the environment
The campaign, will take place this spring, and will involve interagency teams visiting multiple drilling and production units across the Gulf of Mexico. These teams will use a focused inspections protocol to evaluate safety, gather and provide data to BSEE’s Office of Safety Management (OSM). OSM will then analyze the data and publish a report of its findings, including recommendations to industry.
