The facilities regulations § 13

§ 13 Materials handling and transport routes, access and evacuation routes

Facilities and transport routes on and between facilities, and between facilities and vessels, shall be designed so that materials handling and personnel traffic can take place efficiently and safely. Handling of materials shall to the extent possible take place by means of mechanical systems and technical appliances.
There shall be a stairway or ramp where access between different levels is used daily.
Escape routes shall be designed so that all evacuation can take place in a simple, quick and safe manner. There shall be at least two escape routes from areas with regular traffic.
Section last changed: 01 January 2011

The terms transport, access and evacuation routes also include stairs, doors, hatches, etc.
When designing for materials handling and personnel traffic as mentioned in the first subsection, the following factors should be taken into consideration:
  1. The need for types and number of lifting and transport equipment units, including cranes and elevators,
  2. The need for loading and unloading areas, facilitation for forklifts, trolleys, etc.
  3. Access to areas and work sites in connection with operations and maintenance,
  4. Safe handling of cargo.
For handling of materials by means of lifting equipment, the standard NORSOK R-002 Appendix B should be used.
The various work sites should be designed so that they can be serviced and maintained without the use of temporary equipment such as scaffolding, ladders, etc. For permanent solutions, stair ladders should be chosen over vertical ladders.
For mobile facilities that are registered in a national ship register, the Norwegian Maritime Authority’s Regulations relating to the construction of mobile facilities Sections 14, 15, 16 and 17 can be used for access and transport routes, with the following additions:
  1. Thresholds in access routes should be avoided or made as low as possible, cf. Section 20,
  2. Ladders, where there is danger of falling to a lower level, should have self-closing gates, cf. NORSOK S-002 Chapter 6.2.1.
The following standards should be used for design of the transport routes as mentioned in the first subsection, and access as mentioned in the second subsection:
  1. NORSOK S-002 Chapters 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 og 8.1,
  2. NORSOK C-002 Chapters 5 (for main stairs) and 6,
  3. NORSOK C-001 Chapters 7.28 and 7.1.5.
For design of offshore gangways between vessels and simpler facilities, DNVGL-ST-0358 should be used.
As regards design of scaffolding and ladders, Chapter 4 of the Regulations concerning the construction, design and production of work equipment and chemicals (in Norwegian only) should be used.
To fulfil the requirement for escape routes as mentioned in the third subsection, the NORSOK S-001 standard, Chapters 6, 7 and in particular 22, should be used with the following addition: evacuation routes should be designed so that there is free passage for personnel wearing smoke-diver and/or fire-fighting equipment.
For mobile facilities that are not production facilities, and that are registered in a national ship register, DNVGL-OS-A101 can be used as an alternative in the area covered by the standard. For requirements related to escape routes from helicopter decks, see Section 70.
The Norwegian Shipowners' Association Norm for physical-chemical working environment on mobile facilities built before 1 August 1995 and operating on the Norwegian shelf (in Norwegian only) can be used as an alternative to NORSOK S-002N for those areas covered by the norm.