Eliminating the Need for Manriding Operations in Drilling Operations

摘要

Manriding operations, hoisting personnel above or below therig floor with a winch to perform rig maintenance, areconsidered a part of normal routine operations by manycompanies in the drilling industry. However, NobleCorporation believes that this practice is inherently high riskand has focused significant efforts on eliminating the need formanriding in its operations and hoisting personnel only whenno other safe alternative exists.This paper discusses the creative techniques that Noble hasemployed to avoid manriding operations in select locations, aswell as its worldwide efforts to improve the safety ofmanriding when it is unavoidable. These efforts includestandardizing worldwide on dedicated manriding winches anddeveloping strict policies and procedures for use of thewinches. The paper also describes the techniques that NobleCorporation’s European Division has employed to reduce theneed for manriding in select locations and provides statisticson the success of these operations to date. Some of thesepractices include:· Installing access platforms to eliminate the need formanriding above the rig floor.· Relocating remote equipment to areas that provideaccess through existing platforms and walkways.· Installing special scaffolds and platforms to eliminate theneed for manriding around blowout preventers.Because of the dramatic results of these operations, and thereduction in both the number and duration of manriding lifts,Noble Corporation is implementing these practices throughoutits entire fleet, further reinforcing its core safety values.