Wikibooks: Professionalism/The Loss of Ocean Ranger

• Format: Book
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; Orleans; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professionalism/The_Loss_of_Ocean_Ranger

On February 15 1982 the a mobile offshore drilling platform sank off the coast of Newfoundland Canada. All 84 lives aboard were lost. It remains the biggest accident in the Canada’s offshore petroleum industry. Post accident studies showed that it was not a catastrophic technological failure rather a result of a combination of a failure of the Ocean Drilling Exploration Company (ODECO) training policy the lax safety training of the crew and the lacking seaworthiness of the lifeboats on board. Due to the sinking of the Ocean Ranger improvements in safety regulations for offshore drilling companies technological innovations in survivability continued escape evacuation and rescue (EER) research and improved safety training procedure have helped decrease the number of offshore drilling incidents. The Ocean Ranger sinking showed that technological improvements are only as effective as the training and management structures of its users. =Ocean Ranger Background= The Ocean ranger was designed by ODECO engineers incorporated for ODECO International of New Orleans Louisiana and the Norwegian firm of Fearnley Eger A/S. It was built at the Hiroshima yard of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster (Canada) Hickman T. A. (1984). Report One the Loss of the Semisubmersible Drill Rig Ocean Ranger and Its Crew. The Commission. . =Structure= The Ocean Ranger rig consisted of two pontoons eight vertical columns an upper hull with two decks and a supporting framework of braces and trusses. The two pontoons each contained 16 tanks that served as storage for ballast water fuel oil and drill water. The pontoons were connected to the upper hull by eight watertight vertical columns. Each of the four corner columns contained three chain lockers for storing the anchor chains. There were two upper deck openings that led to each chain locker. Although the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) designated these openings as the first point of down flooding there were no coverings provided for these ...