Chinese offshore drilling contractor COSL Drilling has received a safety order from Norway’s Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), following investigations of an incident on the company’s drilling rig COSL Innovator on December 30, 2015, which caused the death of one worker and injured another two.
on December 30, 2015, which caused the death of one worker and injured another two.PSA conducted an investigation into the incident and published its findings earlier this year revealing two breaches of regulations. According to the report, COSL Innovator did not have an air gap of 1.5 metres between the underside of the lowest deck and the highest wave crest. At the time of the incident, the unit’s superstructure was not dimensioned to resist horizontal wave loads. Furthermore, the system for registering personnel on board did not function satisfactorily.
COSL has been ordered to test all three rigs operating in the region, COSL Innovator, COSL Promoter and COSL Pioneer, to make sure they are all in accordance with relevant regulations. COSL also needs to get these tests verified by an independent third party. It has until October to comply.
