Click here to view the embedded video.

Image Source: HSE.gov.uk

Two died and two others were seriously injured when a twin-fall lifeboat from the Diamond Offshore-owned, OGX-leased rig was being recovered from the sea after training and maintenance operations. A Triple 5 hook from the lifeboat is being examined by the manufacturer, Survival Systems International.

The Triple 5 hook is based on an early design by the same company with a record of 25 years without an accident. It is designed to fail-to-safe under load.

The report, expected in Q3 2010 is expected to address the issue of lifeboat recovery with crew aboard, which frequently results in deaths and injuries when safety-critical hoisting equipment fails.

Another Two Lifeboat Deaths

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Your Lifeboat Experiences

Eide Marine Tech brings us a new Freefall lifeboat design. In a press release they write:

The lifeboat has a new superstructure design in order to get the water off the superstructure faster than earlier designed freefall lifeboats. And together with the bow, which EMT has used for several years, this will make the entry to the water quite soft.

The lifeboat was designed for use with their innovative freefall davit design. Rather than attempting to describbe the system, here is a drawing that should make the system’s advantages over a traditional free fall system obvious.

If you have any experience with these davits please post a comment with your thoughts.

Noresafe Lifeboats aboard AWILCO GM4000 series offshore oil rigs.

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Here’s the arial view;

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Finally, here’s how they test these boats:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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For more info on the history behind these types of lifeboats visit NOVA’s “Pioneers of Survival – An Interview with Martin Verhoef“.