Aquatic Enhances Offshore Personnel Training

Aquatic Engineering & Construction Ltd., an Acteon company, has worked with specialist health and safety training provider Survivex, to create a bespoke course for its offshore teams who work at height using harnesses.

Aquatic’s modular reel drive systems can stand up to 7m high when assembled, and the company’s offshore teams must use harnesses and ladders to complete the assembly. In addition to teaching best practice during normal operations, the course will also show personnel how to secure and rescue a colleague who has fallen in the harness or become unconscious.  

Aquatic’s commitment to excellence in health and safety training and practice prompted the company to commission a customised course to improve body positioning and establish good practice for personnel assembling the AQPR-02 modular drive system. The course also covers the introduction of new work positioning harnesses that give technicians a higher degree of comfort and mobility while allowing them to use both hands for working.

Aquatic chose Aberdeen-based Survivex because it delivers realistic survival and industrial skills training and is renowned across the offshore industry for high quality courses. The first training course was held in January 2014, and the content will be rolled out to all offshore personnel during the first quarter.

Aquatic’s offshore training supervisor, Sandy Roberts, said, “We have worked with Survivex before. Their knowledge and reputation meant they were the company of choice when we recognised the need to design a course for working at height training.”

John Spellman, HSEQ manager at Aquatic said, “HSEQ is a vital part of our contract wins. We pay attention to the views and information contained in our internal observation card system, which encourages employees to report any HSEQ issues of concern. This training course will empower and enable our personnel to familiarise themselves with the new equipment in a low-pressure environment before they use it on a project out on a vessel at sea. As a responsible employer working in a high-risk industry, we cannot afford to be complacent about the health and safety of our people.”  

Chris Bews, account manager at Survivex, said, “Creating a course that is designed specifically for the needs of Aquatic employees helps to ensure that the issues we cover are relevant to the reality of the company’s working environment and that the training outcome is of direct benefit to Aquatic offshore personnel.”