April 13, 2007

engineers react to news of capsized tug

The Norwegian tug The Bourbon Dolphin capsized whilst attached to an oil rig.

Francis Udom, Institute of Marine Engineering Science and Technology, said:

“I have to express my sincere condolences to the families of the victim on board the vessel on the North Sea.

“Prevention involves not only the technological side of ship safety, but also the people and the organization involved in operation of the ship. A broader view of prevention is needed which accounts for what might occur rather than simply what has occurred. To do this we have to consider the human element, the people using the vessel must be taken into account. Without considering the human factor, we create systems that will be more likely to cause an accident or injury. Therefore prevention is the key to safety because it is easier and cheaper to prevent accidents rather than trying to minimize the consequences of an accident.”

Dr Clifford Jones, Reader in the Department of Engineering at the University of Aberdeen, said:

“At the time the Bourbon Dolphin capsized it was connected to an anchor of Transocean Rather. Bourbon Dolphin’s owners have expressed the view that the accident ‘should have been impossible’. This probably relates to the frequency with which the vessel in calm waters will capsize. A figure could no doubt be put on this, but it would probably be once in tens or hundreds of millions of years and of no real meaning. On this basis the ‘should have been impossible’ statement ought not to be dismissed lightly. However, attachment to the drilling rig introduces another dimension. With the present very limited information one can but suggest that an event took place whereby attachment to the drilling rig destabilised the Bourbon Dolphin. While this might have been identified already in a risk assessment and deemed either negligible or ‘ALARP’ (As Low As Reasonably Practicable), more probably, whatever event or sequence of events caused Bourbon Dolphin to capsize might never have been observed previously or considered in risk assessment.”