Handrail section fell 20m from crane pedestal to lower deck walkway

Cause & Consequence

• Moving, flying or falling object

Contributing Factor

• Change management

Description of Process

Integrity management of barricaded areas to identify structural deterioration.

Description of Incident

A section of guardrail weighing 55kgs fell 20m from a long-term disused and hard barriered crane pedestal perimeter walkway to a deck walkway directly below.

Good Practice Guidance

Consider the following in areas that have been hard barriered off and have limited or no access:

• Are uninspected areas on your facility recorded on work orders to ensure that risks can be quantified or assessed?
• Are all structural elements on your facility identified on engineering and/or structural drawings so that they remain visible for assessment and planning as part of topside structural inspection requirements and priorities.
• Do your DROP Surveys cross-check actual platform layout against controlled drawings, so gaps / omissions are recorded and drawings are updated?

The following reflective questions could be used as part of any discussion during the planning process for integrity management and inspection programs:

• Who is responsible for planning “hard barriered” area inspections where access is restricted or prohibited?
• How often are they undertaken?
• How do you monitor the number of areas that are subject to long term “hard barrier” restrictions?
• How are you assuring that your platform layout drawings are up to date and that nothing is missing from them? (NOTE: These are the controlled drawings that Topsides Structural Inspection use to plan and prioritise their inspection programs; if they are wrong or have items missing, those items will be not be inspected).