Forewind and Dogger Bank: The practice run

Health & Safety Case Study 01
January 2013
Forewind and Dogger Bank: The practice run-through approach
About Forewind
Forewind Limited is a consortium of four leading international energy companies – RWE, SSE, Statoil and Statkraft – committed to
securing the necessary consents required for the construction and development of offshore wind farms within the Dogger Bank Zone.
Its mission is to: Achieve development consent for a minimum of 9GW of safe, technically deliverable and economically viable offshore wind
capacity on the Dogger Bank that will provide an attractive opportunity for investors.
Initiative summary
Full in-harbour enactments of each activity to be undertaken on vessels
during surveys offshore have been introduced by Forewind to improve
the safety of all operations at sea and embed good HSE practice.
During Forewind’s earliest surveys, contractors reported a handful
of HSE incidents related to either non-compliance or inadequate
procedures. To address this, the concept of enacting each full survey
process while in the peace and calm of a port or harbour was devised
because similar operations may pose different risks and hazards on
different vessels.
Initial trials, with just one vessel and the crew, pinpointed hazards and
uncovered risks that may have gone unnoticed. For example the
incorrect positioning of people, potential lifting issues, possible dropped
objects, working too closely to the side of the vessels, housekeeping
and manual handling risks.
Following a successful trial period, the requirement for vessel-specific
work instructions and risk assessments, and the need to enact process
at mobilisation, was rolled out to all contractors.
Every vessel working for Forewind has now implemented the ‘run
through process’ and found it has helped them to identify unforeseen
risks, not obvious in generic work process documents. At least eight
vessels working regularly on geotechnical and geophysical surveys from
east coast ports such as Scarborough, Sunderland, Hull and Hartlepool
have been involved. By adopting this process Forewind has enabled
development of extremely robust and appropriate work instructions,
tailored for specific operations on specific vessels.
Background
In 2010 and 2011, Forewind contractors reported a handful of HSE
incidents related to either the non-compliance or inadequacy of
procedures. These led to discussions on how to better embed good
HSE practice within all contractor operational activity and from there,
the concept of enacting each full operational process while in port
was devised.
Survey operations generally use a work process document, which is
always accompanied by a risk assessment describing the anticipated
work process, for example the deployment or recovery of
sampling equipment.
Above: Practice run-through of the use of tag lines during benthic
operations identified that it is a more effective methods at times, though
use of hands-only is actually preferred in some circumstances.
Forewind requested that contractors produce vessel-specific work
instructions upon mobilisation and, using the “practice run-through
approach”, each contractor enacts, adapts and tailors a generic or
previously-implemented work process document.
Initially trialled in August 2011 with just one vessel and the crew, it
proved useful in terms of pinpointing hazards and uncovering risks that
may otherwise have gone unnoticed.
After a successful trial period, Forewind Ltd introduced a specification
that crew on-board each survey vessel must conduct mock – or
practice run-through – operations while alongside in port. It was rolled
out to all contractors during the 2012 survey programme.
Health & Safety Case Study 01
www.forewind.co.uk
Core value: Action to improve safety awareness
It is Forewind policy that a member of its Operations & Safety team
must be on each vessel during mobilisation when the contractor
describes the approach to the proposed work and vessel-specific work
instructions are examined. Having successfully ensured a Forewind
presence on each mobilisation, the organisation took the process one
step further.
Each operation, as described in the work instruction, is now enacted on
the deck while the vessel is in port. Personnel involved take position on
deck, and other members of the crew observe. The specific operation
is then acted in full, in accordance with the defined work instructions.
At the end of each run-through, all personnel, including observers,
comment on all aspects of the procedure – from safety and efficiency
to potential risks or additional considerations. Discussion and questions
on the methodology and potential improvements are incorporated into
subsequent run-throughs.
Finally any changes or improvements that had been implemented during
the run-through process are recorded by inclusion in the work instruction.
This has improved safety awareness as:
1. Each person involved in the run-through and production of
vessel-specific work instruction is better able to visualise and
understand any associated hazards.
2. The process helps identify and mitigate any vessel-specific risks
associated with that particular operation.
Risk reduction
The inclusion of this system at every mobilisation provides an invaluable
way to ensure workers minds are focused on actual hazards; and that
the work instructions are always up-to-date and accurate. In fact they
become a ‘living document’ owned and implemented by the crew.
The ‘run through process’ also reduced risk in two additional ways.
First, it allowed the proposed methods to be put to the test in a fully
realistic context. Second, it gave all personnel the chance to work
together and establish a rapport.
While all the personnel on-board were highly experienced, they had not
necessarily worked together as a team carrying out the exact operation
on the actual vessel in the past.
Above: After the practice run-through which identified hazardous personnel
positioning during the recovery of wave buoys, the updated process was
put into practice on Dogger Bank.
The ‘run through process’ is not a contractual requirement, but
Forewind has recognised its benefits and will continue to share it with
contractors throughout the 2013/2014 survey programmes.
Beyond the contractors, Forewind has also shared the initiative with its
owner companies during regular HSE review sessions and featured an
article on it in the winter edition of the consortium’s regular newsletter,
Dogger Bank News, which is distributed to all key stakeholders and
interested groups and via www.forewind.co.uk/downloads.
Further opportunities to present it to offshore wind industry groups will
be considered during 2013.
Key impacts
This process has impacted positively in two ways.
Examples of risks identified include: the incorrect positioning of people,
potential lifting issues, possible dropped objects, working too closely
to the side of the vessels, housekeeping, trip hazards and manual
handling risks.
Wider industry learning
This approach was communicated to contractors via briefings and
mobilisation activities which were always attended by a Forewind team
member. Since the start of 2012, every vessel working for Forewind has
implemented the ‘run through process’ and benefited through the
identification of unforeseen risks, not detected in the generic work
process documentation.
1. There have been clear improvements in the procedures due to
the identification of vessel-specific issues including: lines of sight,
obstructions and hazards on deck and the layout of equipment
on deck.
2. The creation of vessel-specific procedures by survey personnel
ensures that each survey team member had been engaged and
provided input into the identification of any operational risks
before heading to sea.
The latter benefit proved to reduce risk, even if no changes to the
model procedure were required by virtue of focussing attention
on the full scenario.