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New Simulator Boosts Offshore Crane Operations Safety The number of mechanical handling incidents in the UK offshore industry has remained at an unacceptably high level for the past 5 years. HSE has initiated a Key Programme of work that aims to reduce the number of offshore lifting and mechanical handling accidents and dangerous occurrences by 15% over a three-year period. One element of this is to increase awareness
of the issues and seek to improve the competence of crane operators. Traditional
training courses cannot usually provide trainee exposure to the type of operating
conditions that may give rise to accidents if inappropriate actions are taken.
With this in mind HSE commissioned Drilling Systems (UK) Ltd to develop a
crane simulator to provide crane operator exposure to simulated normal and
dangerous conditions in a safe training environment. Substantial technical
support, during the course of the project, was provided by industry partners
A1 Safety Training Consultants Ltd, Shell UK Ltd, Sparrows Offshore Services
Ltd and Special Maintenance Services Ltd. A high level of assistance was
also provided by Kenz Cranes B.V. The prototype crane simulator, trade-named KraneSIM-6000 was launched at the 7th Offshore Cranes Conference in Aberdeen in April 2002, supported by a paper presented by Drilling Systems' Managing Director, Julian Jones entitled "Introduction of Competency Based Assessment of Offshore Crane Operators". The simulator is unique in that it offers the opportunity to practice the lifting and laying down of loads between a moving (floating) rig and moving supply vessels, together with the possibility of benchmarking crane operator competency. Through its realistic crane-cab environment, trainees can be tested in a variety of normal and abnormal operating scenarios, including a range of weather conditions and sea states. By placing the trainee in a virtual reality environment, dangerous operating scenarios and operator competence under pressure may be evaluated. This should reduce the risk of accidents in the field, and boost operator confidence in their own ability to deal with potentially hazardous incidents and situations. The simulator has been developed on a modular basis to enable emulation of different crane types through the use of interchangeable control panniers. It utilises sophisticated real-time, digital computing techniques in conjunction with a wide range of provided crane controls and functions giving a true-to-life simulation experience. The prototype system is road trailer mounted, permitting the delivery of on-site training, reducing the time and expense associated with sending trainee crane operators to remote training centres. The trailer cab is partitioned. One section contains the main simulation computing equipment and the instructor's exercise monitoring and control facilities. The other section replicates the crane cab environment including a large graphics projection screen and the crane operator's chair, complete with its associated crane controls. The simulator projection system utilises the latest visual technology, incorporating a dome-shaped screen that greatly enhances the immersive experience. This is the first time that this technology has been successfully applied to crane simulation. Advanced hoist line and load dynamics are extremely true to life, and provide the operator with rotational-load, swinging-load and load-coordination problems. The instructor is able to display other viewpoints. Demonstration of the banksman's view is provided through a prototype virtual reality headset offering the potential for improving operator/banksman communication and coordination. KraneSIM Video A brief video clip demonstrating the KraneSIM-6000 prototype crane simulator can be played by clicking here. Please note that the 1 minute video clip is in .AVI format (which will play in Windows Media Player) and is 13.1MB. Publication details 'A Training Simulator for Offshore Crane Operations'
is being published by HSE in the OTO report series as OTO 2002 032 and will
be available from HSE Books, or alternatively will be available for downloading
in PDF format, free of charge, from the HSE web site at http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/frameset/
Further information: Alan Dixon, HSE |