Stork Technical Services won the ‘Associate Member’ prize at this year’s IADC North Sea Chapter (NSC) Annual Safety Awards.
The award recognises an Associate members’ safety achievements over the past year which can include launching schemes to improve safety performance, technical or operational innovations which reduce risk or any notable safety achievements.
The presentation, in front of more than 400 industry leaders and guests, was made by Jon L Richards, Chairman IADC North Sea Chapter, at the ceremony on 11 May at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Stork received the award for a range of initiatives rolled out as part of its REACH safety programme, which helped reduce the company’s lost time frequency rate in 2011 by more than 35% in the UKCS and over 30% globally, following on from a 51% reduction in 2010 across the UKCS and 35% globally the year before.
One initiative involved Stork’s health & fitness advisor undertaking regular visits to client sites to advise the company’s operatives how they should physically prepare for and work throughout each workscope to reduce the likelihood of injury. Stork’s innovative onsite approach means a fit for purpose approach for each individual and job is developed, which has led to a significant reduction in the occurrence and likelihood of injuries such as back strains.
The company also launched an industry-first hot bolt clamp system that enables the safe removal and replacement of corroded bolts on live flanged connections that have eight bolts or less. The clamp system improves the safety for offshore operatives and the asset as a whole by reducing the likelihood of hydrocarbon releases. The system has been extensively field-tested and was successfully utilised by Stork operatives for a recent project on a Chevron North Sea Limited operated asset in the North Sea.
Mike Mann, SVP – Global HSSEQ for Stork Technical Services, said: "Winning the Associate Members award is a great achievement and testament to the hard work and determination of our employee community to make safety priority each and every day. REACH has been a great success and it provides us with the platform to roll-out initiatives that have a significant positive impact on our safety culture and performance.
“Safety and innovation are two of Stork’s core values and the success of the hot bolt clamps demonstrates our commitment to them. The technology delivers significant safety benefits to those working on an asset and improves environmental performance for Operators by reducing the likelihood of a hydrocarbon release.”