Wave & Tidal Safety & Construction Guidelines Malcolm Bowie Ltd All-Energy, Aberdeen, 24 th May 2012
Principal Challenges - Energetic environment with very unique construction risks. - Many new / radical concepts. - Various Industries with limited experience of working together. - Rapidly moving to Array configuration in relatively short timeline. - Investor confidence, commercial sensitivity & media interest. - Limited Industry Guidance on Best Practise. - No central source of Risks and methods to mitigate against. - No common Risk Assessment criteria or Guidelines. - Awareness of Codes / Practise from other Industries? - Potential for clash of Codes requirements? The Roadmap Summary Report by UKERC into Marine Renewable Energy in 2008 identified the need for such Guidelines / Best Practise to be developed.
Industries / Stakeholders The following list gives an indication of the breadth of Industries involved in Marine Renewables (not exhaustive). - Utilities - Environmental Science - Landowners - Device developers - Subsea Engineering (Deeper water) - Near shore Civils / Shore approaches - Power Generation. - Shallow and deep diving. - ROV operations. - Telecommunications. - Marine (Anchoring Handling & Towing) - Fishing
Comparison with Flexible Pipe Industry Flexible pipes have been used in the Oil & Gas industry for a number of decades. Reference SUREFLEX JIP Veritec Guidelines (1987) API Specification (2009) Adopted by ISO Guidelines eventually migrated to Specification and Standards over 10+ years
What should scope of Guidelines be? Intention is not to over-ride or re-write the existing codes, but to complement. Introduction in the context of Marine Renewables. Direct reference to relevant sections in other Codes. Address areas where there may be no information, ambiguity or clash of requirements in other codes. Suggestion of typical construction methods. Typical minimum equipment specifications. Identify potential issues and suggest options. Other practical considerations.
What should content of Guidelines be? Typical areas to address / discuss: Environment Transportation and Loadout Lifting (On and Offshore) Recovery (Offshore) Mooring & Anchoring (temporary and permanent) Towing Submerging / ballasting Landing and disconnection Installation Analysis Cable Installation Final Hook-up Operations (Diver / ROV) IRMD (Inspection, Repair, Maintenance and Decommissioning).
How do we develop the Guidelines? Information comes from various sources.. Existing Methods New Methods Proposed Methods Existing Industry Standards / Guidelines Marine Renewables Construction Guidelines Lessons Learnt Known Risks & Mitigations Postulated Risks & Mitigations Lessons Learnt must be filtered down to the key recommendations. Risks and their Mitigation form a vital input, especially the postulated.
Identify Risks Typical risks shared with other industries, could be; Vessel collision Other vessels, platform Spills Oil, hydraulic fluid, freshwater, dye, MEG, treated water Ergonomics Lighting, shelter, walkways, stretcher access. Lifting Swinging loads, dropped objects. DP system classification. Unique / Postulated risks to the Wave and Tidal environment; Vessel collision Mooring legs, turbine, foreshore, pile stickup. Ergonomics Unusual ship/barge motions, difficult boat access. Lifting Load caught in current, heading control during deployment subsea. Mooring legs damage to sensitive seabed, VIV noise. Redundancy & Reliability of DP or mooring system Dropped object risk for tidal is also in horizontal plane!
Risk Assessment Matrix Challenge: Can we agree on a generic/default matrix (size) and how we assess probability and consequences? Severity 1. Negligible 2. Minor 3. Moderate 4. Serious 5. Major No injury or minor first aid Medical treatment or First aid Restricted work case (RWC) Lost Time Incident (LTI), Serious Injury(s), Death, People case Medium Term Heath Impact Medium Term Heath Impact Disabling injury Negligible Impact (<1 litre) Minor Impact (>1 litre) Local vicinity impact Local Impact Impact Regional Environment Long term local impact Material Damage Superficial damage, equipment fit-for-purpose Observable Damage Assess suitability Obvious Damage Worksite repair possible Serious Damage Offsite repair required. Vital equipment destroyed or unusable Business Impact No Media Interest No impact on business Minor Local Media Interest No impact on business Local Media Coverage Inventor Notification National Media Coverage Inventor Concerns International Media Serious Inventor Concerns Commercial Impact < 5,000 5-20k 20k - 100k 100k - 500k 500k + E. Very Likely Almost inevitable > 1:2 MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH HIGH HIGH D. Likely <1:2 but > 1:10 LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH HIGH C. Potential <1:10 but >1:100 LOW LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM HIGH B. Unlikely <1:100 but >1:1000 LOW LOW LOW MEDIUM MEDIUM A. Very Unlikely >1:1000 LOW LOW LOW LOW MEDIUM HIGH MEDIUM LOW Task must not proceed where the risk is to people or the environment Task may continue, however control measures must be implemented and extra vigilence taken Task may continue with risk reduce measures implemented.
Assessing Acceptable Risks Impact on People is across the industry. Environmental impact dependent upon sensitivity of location. Material Damage temporary works, equipment and key assets? Business impact key for small developers, investor confidence and/or media. Commercial impact - size of business and ability to withstand losses. Challenge: Does the acceptability of a risk differ between Stakeholders for same activity? Example: It is acceptable to install mooring line run along seabed, but what about foreshore environment? Higher impact on marine life?
Outline Proposal & Deliverables Identify Risks List the common risks. Postulate unconventional risks, from the unique environment. Identify generic consequences. Database: Risks & Hazards Quantify Risk Raise awareness of the risk matrices from different industries and stakeholders. Work to align / agree risk levels & probabilities. Guideline: Risk / Hazard Assessment Mitigating Actions Identify actions / methods to reduce risk. Filter out lessons learnt Identify gaps in knowledge. Guideline: Load-out & Transportation Guideline: Near & Offshore Construction
Preparation Roadmap Prepare documents table of contents. Example sections and main risks. Selected unconventional risks as aid-memoir. Workshop Identify / classify risks. Review Risk Matrix Template Identify mitigating actions. Discuss options for future reporting / feedback forums / methods. Collation Collate feedback and workshop results. Discuss and agree comments / resolve conflicts. Compile and review 1 st Draft documentation. Develop database. Consultation Issue for Consultation Obtain feedback Issue first working revisions.
Load-out & Construction Guidelines Advantages to Projects; Safety Improvements. Aid-memoir to PHA / HAZID and Risk Assessments, Risk reduction at earlier stage in project life cycle. Consistency of approach. Reduce construction duration. Improve investor confidence. Feedback loop to design allowing risk reduction by design for installation.
Advantages to Industry; Load-out & Construction Guidelines Provide key source of understanding of risk elements. Improve skills transfer / cross-industry communication. Education of personnel not involved in construction (Knowledge Transfer), Provide forum for feedback of experiences (positive and negative). Raise awareness between Industries. Assist definition of existing and future functional requirement of installation equipment.
Next Stages Where do we go from here? 1. Identify Key Administrator for Study. 2. Identify Custodian of Risk Database. 3. Identify Custodian of Guidelines. 4. Secure Funding. 5. Identify Parties to Assist directly in Guidelines compilation.