The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority (Havtil) has conducted an audit of the follow-up by Transocean Services (Transocean) of the alarm management systems in the drilling cabins on the Transocean Enabler, Transocean Encourage, Transocean Norway and Transocean Spitsbergen facilities.
Background
Alarms from the control system are often the first alert that operators receive of conditions that are about to get out of control. In recent years, Havtil has conducted audits of alarm systems in central control rooms on drilling facilities, onshore facilities and production facilities. These audits have revealed numerous weaknesses in the alarm systems. We have also encountered challenges with high alarm rates and many standing alarms. This indicates that there may be deficiencies in the follow-up of the systems and how high alarm rates and many standing alarms impact on the working conditions of operators in the drilling cabin.
Objective
The objective of the audit was to verify that the drilling contractors are following up the alarm systems in accordance with the applicable regulations and internal requirements.
Result
We identified two non-conformities during the audit. These concerned:
System for follow-up of the alarm systems
Analyses in drilling cabin
We also identified one improvement point relating to the acquisition, processing and use of data.
What happens now?
Transocean has been given a deadline of 31 January to report on how the non-conformities will be addressed, and to provide us with their assessment of the improvement point observed.