The ocean industry on the Norwegian continental shelf is evolving rapidly. More unmanned facilities and normally unmanned facilities are being built, and there are plans for new wind farms and the drilling of wells for future carbon capture.

This has introduced a very substantial increase in the use of ships with gangways where the personnel working on the installations live on board the ship, but are transported over to the worksite using the ship’s installed walk-to-work (W2W) gangway. Furthermore, a number of manufacturers have started to supply gangways that can also be used as offshore cranes, in addition to their footbridge function.

For the Facilities Regulations, section 13 concerning materials handling and transport routes, access and evacuation routes, the guidelines state: “For design of offshore gangways between vessels and simpler facilities, DNVGL-ST-0358 should be used.”

On commission from Havtil, Proactima has prepared a report that provides an overview of relevant standards and how these correspond with the requirements in the HSE regulations. The assignment is intended to assist Havtil in understanding how other standards meet the requirements of its own regulations, with reference to the Framework Regulations, section 24 concerning the use of recognised standards

The report also addresses the interface between Havtil’s own and the maritime regulations with regard to certification, documentation requirements, maintenance and competence requirements. This applies both to W2W used as a gangway and to W2W used as a gangway and crane.

The objective of the project and the expected outcome is to: 

  • Provide more knowledge within Havtil and in the industry about the different standards and how these are applied.
  • Use the conclusions in the preparation and revision of Havtil’s own regulations within petroleum, renewable energy and other ocean industries, as well as other relevant standards.
  • Use the project findings to identify the need to prepare competence requirements for the industry.

The report is available in Norwegian only.