Hibernia Management and Development Company (HMDC) reported to the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB) that, on March 20, a crane on the Hibernia platform was lifting a mini container when it made contact with a scaffold hoarding. There were three people working inside the hoarding at the time of contact. No one was injured and there was no damage to the scaffold hoarding.
Pedestal crane operations were halted by the company, and it initiated an investigation to determine the potential classification of the incident.
C-NLOPB safety officers were already scheduled to investigate the platform after another near-miss incident on March 15. In that incident, personnel were moving the east blowout-preventer gantry crane on the platform when a piece of the motor’s drive assembly fell 10 metres to the deck. The crane was in motion with no load attached, and the object weighed approximately 8 kg. Although there were no injuries, the incident had the potential for fatality, based on the dropped objects prevention scheme (DROPS) calculator.
HMDC immediately stopped gantry crane operations in the area and initiated an investigation into the cause of the incident.
There was no damage to wells in either case.
The regulator will now investigate both incidents, and monitor HMDC’s internal investigations.
