Alert
  • Published: 27 Apr 2015
  • Incident ID: 3691

DP Reference System Transponder Near Miss

Cause & Consequence

  • Moving vehicle or vessel
Incident Consequence
HIPO

Incident Location

Support vessel eg Supply, Standby

Incident Activity

Marine activity, shuttle offloading

Incident Info Source

Marine Safety Forum

Specific Incident Equipment

A Platform Supply Vessel was working cargo alongside a fixed installation when a high potential near miss occurred with the vessels radius transponder.

Lessons Identified

A questionnaire conducted by the Marine Safety Forum in 2014 on safe operations within the 500m zone identified concerns relating to a general lack of understand of marine operations on installations. In this case there was a lack of understanding of the purpose of the transponder and the effect the moving it could have on the position of the vessel alongside the platform.

There appears to be a wider issue regarding a lack of awareness of the risk posed to fixed platforms by attendant vessels and of the guidance in place to control these risks.

Incident Recommendations

All vessels utilizing transponders such as this are requested to mark them with a statement such as “do not move without prior permission of the attending vessel”, this should be done in a prominent position but not in a way that is detrimental to its effective operation as a position reference system.

A Step Change in Safety work group has recently be set up in cooperation with the Marine Safety Forum to help operators and mainre contractors better understand the risks posed to fixed installations by vessels and identify ways to better control these risks.

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