Safety of Mobile Offshore Drilling Units

ABSTRACT Offshore mobile drilling units of today emphasize mobility and endurance. Self propulsion or propulsion assist devices, larger units capable of operation in deeper waters and further offshore, and more capacity for consumables, enable the units to carry out their missions with less assistance from support activities. The Coast Guard has been actively engaged in attempts to set reasonable standards to assure the safety of these units, taking account of the changing nature of offshore operation and unit designs. Work along these lines has progressed in several areas. The National Offshore Operations Advisory Panel, a group composed of representatives of the offshore industry and the Coast Guard, has been the means of exchange of ideas and is now beginning to provide a method of formulating standards for the mobile units of tomorrow. The offshore industry, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and the Coast Guard combined to develop a preliminary set of standards for building mobile drilling units. The Coast Guard has relied heavily upon the experience of the U. S. offshore industry and sought their advice in the preparation of two recent U. S. position papers, concerning lifesaving appliances and structural fire protection on offshore mobile units, presented at meetings of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (HICO). Work in other areas continues and is proceeding in a similar manner with the Coast Guard drawing on the experience of the industry to obtain reasonable standards. INTRODUCTION The decade of the 1960's saw man turn increasingly to the sea for recovery of resources vital to his modern technological existence. In no endeavor has this trend been more evident than in the offshore industry. As we enter the decade of the 70's it seems clear that the "soaring" aspects of the past 10 years will be supplanted by a more somber appraisal of what this progress has wrought. Foremost among the national priorities today are problems which involve relationship of single citizens to organizations and events which lie beyond their individual control. Increased attention and resources are being given over to matters of environmental pollution, consumer protection, public safety and similar problems. In a very real sense, the safety of a seaman or an offshore tradesman in his work environment are the same problems on a much smaller scale. Thus, as we enter such a decade it is timely to examine the present relationship of the Coast Guard to safety of offshore operations and to project what changes the future might hold. BACKGROUND With the passage of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act in 1953, the head of the Department in which the Coast Guard is operating was given authority"...to promulgate and enforce such reasonable regulations with respect to ... matters relating to the promotion of safety of life and property on the islands or structures... as he may deem necessary." This authority was in turn delegated to the Commandant of the Coast Guard and the first regulations promulgated under this authority were made effective on July 1, 1956.