Upload
maersk-training
View
214
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Do you use simulators in any way at work or in training? In this issue we take off with the original simulator story and splash down with the latest.
Citation preview
eSeaM A R I T I M E / O I L & G A S / W I N D / C R A N E · N O . 2 6 / 2 0 1 6
EM AGA ZINE FROM M A ERSK TR A INING
26The Musical Link To Safety >First freefall lifeboat simulator... > Lifting Cranes to New Heights > Man vs computer, round 11 > All hands on desk >
The Boom Box Boys > Five ladies with one aim >True grit turns tragedy into triumph >Switching to Manual > What is MPD? >
The dawn of an era
Five ladies with one aimGive five busy women the same task and see how they accomplish it. >
The Boom Box Boys‘Have toolbox, will travel,’ was a thought Bjørn Gudmundsen had way back in 1995. A phone call request for some of his specialist loadbearing knowledge was the trigger. >
Man vs computerOne very calculable aspect of the man vs computer boxing match has been seen in the container industry over the opening quarters of the year. >
All hands on deskCommunication, or lack of it, is more often than not a contributory factor in the root cause of a large proportion of incidents and certainly of most inefficient work practices. >
Lifting Cranes to New HeightsThe route to the classroom starts by checking the current safety level and the amount of activity planned for the next few hours. >
First freefall lifeboat simulator...One of the saddest indictments of progress is that all too often it is paid for, in advance, by the mistakes and pain of others. >
The Musical Link To SafetyThe history of training using simulators is dotted with knee-jerk responses to accidents. >
content
Switching to ManualAhmed Salah is another of the flying instructors who don’t teach flying. >
What is MPD?We asked someone who knows, Martin Brand an instructor at Maersk Training in Houston, the five classic questions, what, why, how, where and when. >
2426
18
14
10
128
6
4
True grit turns tragedy into triumphBack injury is the biggest single factor for people being off work. In any year it represents a quarter of the days lost at work. >
20
Cover picture and historical images courtesy of L3 Link Simulation & Training
3
There was a programme on television the
other evening about tomorrow’s food. One
part featured a huge operation which, using
bar codes, automatically sourced and packed
people’s groceries. It was an operation where
the human element was minimal – except
when it came to the end and something had to
be lifted from one box to another. The system
couldn’t cope with hidden codes.
Then there was a robot chef who cooked an
entire meal at a hob, adding ingredients,
stirring and mixing, turning the food in pan.
In the end a lobster bisque untouched by hand,
except that the robot couldn’t with something
as complicated as peeling an onion. The
onion, as we all know, is a three dimensional
minefield.
In the past in eSea we have often written
about the virtues of computers in
transforming training. Here we, like the guy
who moved the beans from one box to another
and the woman who peeled the onions, we
examine human interaction in the world of
training.
Simulators are not there to replace ‘real’
training, but as we see with a new crane
programme, they are a valuable side-by-side
tool to enhance the learning process. Even
more so, the freefall lifeboat simulator they
have ‘launched’ at Maersk Training in Esbjerg.
It quite literally is a life saver.
We briefly salute the ‘father of simulator’
training, Edwin Link who turned a hobby into
a global industry and in the process helped
win a war or two. We hear from some unsung
heroes of the oil and gas industry, the guys
who fly out to the rigs with a toolbox and
without whom the drilling process would
grind to a halt.
What is MPD? It is a question which is often
asked and more and more a method used in
drilling every more difficult wells. We answer
it and introduce another trio of letters, TMS.
We won’t explain it here. What we will say
that it is within the issue and if you have
the time, the energy and the systematic
knowledge of where to find it, then you
probably don’t need it. If you do then there is a
150 second video to explain it.
Richard [email protected]
editorial
5
The history of training using
simulators is dotted with
knee-jerk responses to accidents.
The first flight simulator looks
today like a rather crude
oversized kid’s toy, like those in
supermarket hallways where you
slip in a coin to amuse a four-year
old before getting back in the car.
It was built by an Edwin Link to
satisfy his love of flying; a love
that he could not afford to pursue
in reality. At nineteen Edwin spent
the first 18 months after he left
school in making his ‘plane’ in
1927. His family ran a factory to
make pianos and church organs in
upstate New York, and he saw the
bellows as an ideal way to cause a
static cockpit to bob and weave.
It would have remained Edwin’s
plaything but for a scandal built
on multiple tragedies. His timing
was sadly perfect. At the end of the
1920’s planes were still fairly basic
and unsophisticated, but when
the US Air Force won a contract
to deliver the US Mail the demand
on new pilots greatly increased.
Many weren’t up to it and after
twelve pilots were killed in 78
days, the Air Force bought six of
Edwin’s ‘toys’ at $3,500 each.
A dramatic reduction in both
accidents and deaths firmly
established the value of controlled
simulation training and also
established the Link factory to
turn out the ‘planes’. The Second
World War saw a similar demand
for skills to be learnt as safely
and economically as possible.
Link’s Blue Box, the ANT-18 Basic
Instrument Trainer, rolled of the
production line at a rate of one
every 45 minutes. There is no way
of calculating exactly how many
young airmen became old airmen
because of it. It was a huge life
saver.
THE NAME LIVES ONThere is a linguistic irony in that
Edwin’s legacy is in his name
and Link is still a byword in the
industry for progressive quality.
It is almost the generic name for
a flight simulator. He was to flight
safety what Hoover was to dust.
From hobby through numerous
tragedies, a relationship between
simulated training and real flying
hours was born and today the
two schools of taught have come
together more frequently and
on ever broadening platforms of
skills and jobs.
Edwin Link died in the 1980’s just
before the computer revolution
kicked off into overdrive and
would be amazed today to visit
the specialist centres who use
simulation as a valuable tool.
Maersk Training was one of these
and responding to the needs of
customers they have pushed
developers to make ever more
realistic simulators.
NOT THE WHOLEThe role of the simulator has
developed beyond training the
individual for the job. Like in
drilling where it can take the job
itself and dissect it so that when
crews come to actually do it they
already feel comfortable and
able to deal with just about any
scenario.
The simulator is a fantastic tool
in the learning process, but the
danger might be to make it the
only tool. You’ll perhaps read
elsewhere in this eSea the way
Maersk Training in Esbjerg has
used the lifeboat simulator as
part of a training programme, not
the whole. Mixed with classroom
and outdoor training they come
together to not quite make the
whole. Regulations require
that full drills are conducted
and freefall boats are now legal
requirements for tankers, bulk
carriers and oil rigs. ●
5
Hamburgefintsiv 7
the simulator, the illusion created
is spectacularly real. One person
pumps a handle and the ‘vessel’
breaks free and drops into the sea.
When stabilized the second person
can assume control of the craft.
Outside the box operations lead
team instructor Kasper Träger
has a bank of screens and hard-
drives loaded with just about
every weather scenario and a
fleet of vessels and rigs. At the
press of a button he can turn a
normal day into a disaster zone.
Kasper sourced and picked up
the simulator from a Canadian
company Virtual Marine Techno-
logy which was set up in the wake
of the Ocean Ranger sinking. What
makes it so valuable is that at the
press of another button he can re-
set the entire operation.
THE JOY OF THE RESET BUTTONBy the time a real boat is launched
and recovered he can do dozens
of practice evacuations. The real
boat might contain thirty people,
but only two can actively take
part, the rest are just along for the
drop.
‘It is very intense, you have two
guys doing it without others just
standing looking on,’ says Kasper.
The simulator is part of a new
highly condensed ‘STCW A-VI/2-
1 Proficiency in Survival Craft
and Rescue Boats other than Fast
Rescue Boats’-course. Whilst
two participants are being
dropped time and time again in
the simulator, the others on the
three-day course are out doing
exercises in the open water just
metres from the new centre,
or taking part in classroom
activities. It is perhaps the most
instructor intensive course on
offer at Maersk Training with five
for just eight participants. ●
7
Click here to freefall
8
The route to the classroom
starts by checking the
current safety level and the
amount of activity planned for the
next few hours. Then it is along
a corridor to an external door,
a change of footwear, donning
protective gear and finding your
way to a ladder.
It is a route that Lasse Dam
Rømhild has navigated several
hundred times in the past, but
now the reason for doing it is
totally different. He used to do it
as a crane driver on many rigs,
now he does it to help ensure a
new standard in operation. He’s
the flying instructor.
The job of crane operator has for
too long suffered by being in the
‘you do it’ bracket of qualification,
particularly in the Danish sector
of the North Sea. The result has
been many fantastic operators
doing excellent work and many
not so. Speak to the navigator
on a supply vessel and they will
undoubtedly have a tale or two of
how difficult it sometimes is when
the crane operator isn’t quite up
to the job.
APPROVED MOVEIt is an unsatisfactory situation
that has been tolerated too long.
The costs in terms of time and
damage through poor operations
are somehow lost in the company
balance sheets, the rewards of a
slick transfer too often unseen.
Maersk Training’s Lasse
and fellow Senior Instructor
Andy Monie are lifting crane
Lifting Cranes to New HeightsThe way forward for the people who lift up and down
Lasse on board and with Andy in the simulator (below)
9
operations to new heights with
the valued approval of Det Norske
Veritas, the Norwegian based
international certification body
who merged with Germanischer
Lloyd in 2013. Today any
recognition by DNV GL’s
assessments is seen as industry
standard bearers.
The Maersk Training duo put their
heads together to improve on the
existing methods of certification
and came up with a revised three-
stage programme which ensures
that participants are immersed in
the theory of crane construction
and operation offshore. As well as
ensuring that sufficient practical
training is validated using
censored examination for each
training stage.
Andy and Lasse are effusive
about the on and off shore side
of things, seeing the virtues and
values alongside the occasional
downsides. At the MOSAIC
(Maersk Offshore Simulation
And Innovation Centre) complex
in the Svendborg centre they
have total control of the training
scenarios and can change from
crane to crane, from rain to sun,
from gusty to calm at the click of
a mouse. Sitting in the simulator
the driver knows that it is his
personal pride that is at stake,
any errors can be replayed and
then reset at the press of a button.
On the rig, damage is damage.
COUNTERBALANCEIt is seeing the operators in their
own seats that brings Lasse and
colleagues from other Maersk
Training centres to the landing
platforms on rig s across the
world. On site training is seen
as being so valuable that the
disadvantages of the programme
being dictated by working needs
and conditions is successfully
counter-balanced.
‘You personally don’t know when
you will leave for, or from, the
rig, so the training period can be
delayed or extended. But when it
works it is extremely valuable,’
says Lasse.
The two instructors have together
made a huge step forward in
terms of developing the universal
skills of operators, but they stop
short of thinking that it will
become a mandatory certificate.
It is a classic example of the
training finance conundrum. It is
hard to quantify the thousands
of dollars squandered through
time lost by poor workmanship
or the odd bit of damage, but easy
to see the budget needed to train
properly.
Crane operators were a part of
the Maersk Drilling Performance
Enhancement Training that
brought entire new-build rig
crews together for five intense
days of team and skill building.
Perhaps more than anywhere
else it was a noticeable aspect
of the training just how the
respect grew from mariners and
drillers for the operational skills
of the crane department. With
certification and improved skills
it is a process that is destined to
continue. ●
OFFSHORE CRANE OPERATOR PROGRAMMEThe Offshore Crane Operator
Programme is a complete and
ambitious solution designed
to develop crane operators
on all levels. Through three
training and assessment
stages, the programme
combines both technical and
practical elements ensuring
that candidates become
equipped to assume the roles
and responsibilities needed
to operate offshore cranes
anywhere in the world.
The Offshore Crane Operator
Programme is approved by
DNV GL. It complies with
LOLER, BS7121 and BS7121-
1 and can include API
certification on customer
request, hereby ensuring high
quality training and a globally
recognizable certification.
Hamburgefintsiv 11
One very calculable aspect
of the man vs computer
boxing match has been seen in
the container industry over the
opening quarters of the year. In
the blue corner representing the
computer age is the vast London
Gateway super-port in Essex, in
the red, Britain’s biggest container
port, the traditional Felixstowe.
Winter weather forced 25 vessels
away from Felixstowe in eastern
England to the very automated
London Gateway. Even when
the weather wasn’t too windy
some of the giants of the sea like
the Triple-E class vessel Matz
Maersk, opted to avoid any risk
of cargo delay and re-scheduled
away from the Suffolk port.
It’s an interesting contest. ●
It’s an ill wind
Man vs computer,round 11.
Hamburgefintsiv 12
‘Excuse me sir, what’s in the suitcase?’‘A rig floor’‘Next’
Communication, or lack of
it, is more often than not a
contributory factor in the root
cause of a large proportion of
incidents and certainly of most
inefficient work practices. So, and
particularly in an environment
where there are many other
distractions, like on a rig. Here
with mechanical noise, weather,
obscured vision, understanding
and being understood is vital. In
fact vital is too small a word to
describe it.
The military know this; they have
to operate under other additional
elements which are aimed at
causing more than an incident.
For years, perhaps going back into
the ancient world, a commander
would physically draw out the
proposed battlefield in front of
him and talk people through the
planned outcome.
MODEL PLANNINGToday teams on rigs can get the
same preview of the future when
in planning mode. A team of
volun teers from Maersk Training
took a specially commissioned set
of models and carried out several
complicated rig operations – any-
one passing the door might have
thought it was a game but, no.
All hands on desk
12
Hamburgefintsiv 13
Out of a suitcase from Marketec,
an English based company
specialising in this form of
communication, comes the
integral parts of a rig. You
build your own work area with
relevant features, pumps, cranes,
valves, indeed whatever is needed
to best set up the situation. You
then get ‘the players’ in to talk
and move their way through the
upcoming situation.
It is a pre-op briefing with
a difference. The physical
movement and visualisation
provokes a greater degree of
understanding and the briefing
moves from the normal two
dimensions without input, to
pretty well continuous dialogue in
a 3D environment.
‘The players’ were drawn from
the oil and gas department and
sales at Maersk Training. They
im mediately saw the potential
and put everything back in the
suitcase. It’s now part of the bag-
gage allowance for instructors
vi siting rigs for on board learning
which in itself is a growing
trend. ●
13
Hamburgefintsiv 14
The Boom Box BoysThe teams who keep the vital crane supply link working
14
Peder from broken boom...
15
‘Have toolbox, will travel,’ was a
thought Bjørn Gudmundsen had
way back in 1995. A phone call
request for some of his specialist
loadbearing knowledge was
the trigger. If you live on the
small Danish island of Fanø, any
big ambitions to work almost
certainly involves travel, but
what Bjørn saw was a global need
for his knowledge and his toolbox.
After twenty-one years he doesn’t
carry the toolbox anymore but
his staff of over a hundred, the
technicians, are ready to carry
theirs to anywhere in the world.
What they do with their toolboxes
is to service or do immediate
repairs in case of emergencies
on the silent workhorse of the oil
rigs and platforms, the cranes.
Fanø Kran-Service A/S has grown
from a one-man band to a globally
recognized company.
One of the first to join Bjørn
was Peder Flodgaard Madsen
who came on board as a young
technician in the second year of
the company. He’s spent the last
twenty flying out to rigs assessing
and repairing. Today he is Fanø
Kran’s Technical Supervisor.
‘We go anywhere in the world but
in our day-to-day business we
cover the whole of the North Sea,’
he says. ‘the British, Norwegian
and Danish sectors have different
rules, standards, but similar
challenges.’
‘We go anywhere in the world but in our daytoday business we cover the whole of the North Sea’
15
...to new cog
16
Rust is enemy #1, but today’s
cranes present many challenges.
‘The basic general offshore crane
looks the same as the cranes of
the nineties, but there is a new
generation of subsea cranes and
inside they are technically qui te
something. It used to be mecha-
nics, electrics and hydraulics, but
now there is software and IT to
bring into the list of things that
can malfunction.’
Back in their expansive
headquarters, which have moved
a half dozen seagull kilometers
from the island to the mainland
oil hub Esbjerg on Denmark’s
west coast, teams try to work out
what the problem might be when
responding to a request. There
is no point sending hydraulics
specialist out when the cause is in
the IT system, or vice versa.
Calling out the repairman for
something on a rig 500kms
off the coast is a little more or
a commitment than getting
the washing machine sorted.
For a start there is the safety
certification they have to have
and then needing the right spare
parts involves more than nipping
out to the van in the driveway.
There are the little big things
like shoulder measurements –
the rules for helicopters in some
sectors differ from others.
OPERATORS’ EDUCATIONPeder raised an interesting point
regarding the operators. He would
not be drawn on the question of
bad driving causing more repair
work, but did point out that
the education level varies from
country to country. For example
Denmark does not have a specific
offshore crane operator education.
Specific offshore education and
simulator training give crane
operators from other countries
more knowledge about the ad-
vanced crane aid and security
sys tems. Those systems represent
a big difference from conventional
onshore cranes and older offshore
cranes, so leveraging knowledge
about them actively can be a big
benefit in order to optimise per-
formance and avoiding downtime.
16
Fanø Kran also supply rather large accessories – this is a four-man
transportation and rescue bell
Hamburgefintsiv 17
Another aspect is in teaching old
dogs new tricks. Peder said that
the normal system of experience
training youth sometimes hits
the issue of avoiding developing
technology.
”That button there, never use
it,” the older guy will say, “heard
somebody pressed it once and oh
my goodness” so they avoid the
new technology and encourage
the new operators to do the same.
The company has two main
roles. One is clearly evident
at the modern Esbjerg works
where huge gearwheels and bent
booms are waiting to be assessed
and repaired. The other is the
on board maintenance teams,
who either carry out routine
repairs and checks or are flown
out like an emergency service.
Any downtime caused by an
out of order crane is minute-by-
minute expensive for the drilling
company, so the pressure is on
for the flying technicians. They
are a very precious part of the
entire set up and they usually
have a maritime engineering
background.
A mechanic in a garage can move
from one car make to another
with relative ease. But here the
backroom team has to make sure
that those who go out to the rig
are the right people and that
they have current and relevant
training. Some of that specialist
training for HUET and BOSIET
is carried out in the pool a few
minutes away at Maersk Training
in Esbjerg.
The North Sea is an important
area for Fanø Kran but the name
is known across the world and
a map shows just how often and
how far they are called to action.
The oil industry is as we know
from the petrol pumps, is in a
state of crisis. It is not something
which Fanø Kran is unduly
worried. They have offshore wind
turbine vessels and other ships to
look after – a case of not putting
all your tools in the one box. ●
19
Give five busy women the
same task and see how
they accomplish it. So that they
would give a representative
response, one not influenced
any competitive instincts,
the question was of an action
immediately set in the past. What
did you cook for dinner last night?
• One bought fresh fish and new
potatoes from local shops and
cooked
• One bought nothing and
emptied the fridge
• One bought a Danish meatball
takeaway
• One ate out, tapas
• and one got her husband to
cook pasta.
Five very different solutions to
the same problem – a problem
that comes up every day of life
and every day, in different ways,
is solved.
The five women were not selected
at random; they are a single
team who take the needs faced
by numerous other companies
and answer them as cost-
effectively as possible. They are
to training management what the
hypermarket is to shopping.
Called Training Management
Services (TMS) they take over
the responsibility for training-
related administration tasks
such as identifying providers,
securing seats, issuing joining
instructions, certificates, invoice
processes, spend reporting and
other allied needs. It is a long list,
but because they know where
to go, a customised training
administration solution can be
designed and delivered based on
the precise business needs of the
customer. The one-stop-shop they
call it.
COOL PRESENTERThe team themselves were set a
task which needed one solution
– how do you get your message
across? Team leader Helle Olsen
Reher explained ‘we have such a
broad base of knowledge that it is
hard to sometimes explain how
best to employ it. So we came up
with the idea of a video to say hi
and why.’ Team leader Helle, now
producer and the one who ate
out, found in Line, who had the
meatball takeaway, a budding
cameraperson and in fridge
emptier Gitte, a natural presenter.
They may all have tackled the
evening meal in a different way,
but like the way they approach
training management they had a
strong single focus when it came
to the movie. They built it around
something we also do every day,
that morning cup of coffee.
Join them here. ●
The Meal SituationWe have such a broad base of knowledge that it is hard to sometimes explain how best to employ it
Play video to learn more about TMS and what benefits it can give youPlay video to learn more about TMS and what benefits it can give you
21
Back injury is the biggest
single factor for people being
off work. In any year it represents
a quarter of the days lost at work.
One person in four will, at some
point, find it too sore or difficult to
make it in.
Gillian Fowler is not one of those
four. A horse riding accident in
2008 broke her spine and golf,
skiing, tennis, horse-riding,
and hillwalking. Well certainly
not hillwalking, after nearly
seven years of surgery and
rehabilitation and the delight of
one full year of no surgery, the
road to recovery at the top of
the world highest freestanding*
mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro.
At 5,895 metres the dormant
volcano in Tanzania is a bit more
than a hill walk. The temperature
varies 45 degrees from the bottom
to the top, the -15C at the summit
being a major cause of deaths – on
average just under four people
a year have died in attempting
to reach the top. Gillian, the
marketing and industrial
relations consultant at Maersk
Training in Aberdeen, got the idea
to get a party together to climb
the mountain 18 months ago
when further major surgery led to
an important positive change in
her spinal movement.
She set up a charity, BackStrong
Trust, and got a party together
that included her surgeon Niall
Craig and physiotherapist Emma
Paterson. They were joined by
Marie-Ann McLeod and Kay
Morgan and once in Tanzania the
party with guides and helpers
reached fourteen.
‘The climb was just absolutely
incredible and I have built
incredible bonds with those who
took on the challenge with me,’
said the successful Gillian. ‘I was
overcome by emotion on reaching
the summit. The day before was
the eighth anniversary of my
accident and that’s what we were
there for – to mark a fresh start
moving on from the accident and
remembering how far I have come
from suffering with paralysis
Bit of Mountain to Climb
21
Kilimanjaro summit with Emma Paterson,
Gillian Fowler and Marie-Ann McLeod
Hamburgefintsiv
to climbing the highest free-
standing peak in the world.’
Gillian said her main goal was
to give people a belief that they
should never give up when the
going gets tough. ‘It’s important to
keep hope burning inside you and
although it may be a long process
and it has been many years for
myself, have belief and confidence
in the people around you and keep
setting goals because it’s amazing
what you can achieve no matter
what’s happened.’
HARD TRAINING SCHEDULEGillian set a training schedule
of lowland walks, mountain
trekking, and varied this with
cycling, running and using light
weights. ‘It was essential to
build up my core strength for
this challenge. I have physical
limitations but I just had this
unwavering belief that I would
succeed if I could build strength
and stamina. The training most
certainly paid off, and it was the
most amazing adventure with
incredible people.’
Surgeon Niall who was part of the
party and a huge part of the story
said: “Gillian is truly remarkable
and inspiring as she has fractured
her spine and had several major
spinal operations. She battled
on through the pain and her
determination and grit inspired
all five of us from Aberdeen to
reach the 5895 metre summit.
Gillian reached another summit.
She’d originally hoped to raise
£1,500 for two spinal charities.
To date she’s reached £9,500, and
with everyone’s help she’s still
climbing. ●
Water cooler fact #1 – Freestanding Mount Everest is the world’s
highest mountain, but its summit
comes from the range it is part
of. It is higher but is a shorter
climb than Mount Kilimanjaro.
From the base of the range to
the summit Everest is 3840
metres, 160 metres less than
from the savannah to the top of
Kilimanjaro.
Water cooler fact #2 The man who measured Everest
never got to near it and did his
calculations from theodolites
based 230 kms away – Nepal
was then a closed country. He
worked it out at exactly 19,000
feet, but thought that people
would think that a guess, so he
listed it at 19,002 feet. When
modern satellites were able to
first measure it they found it
to be 19,002! Today it is 19,029,
the extra feet coming from the
pressure plates of the world
forcing it up and some confusion
over the depth of ice at the top.
However K2 is growing faster and
by year 182,266 it will be taller.
Book your ticket now.
22
Gillian at the summit with climbing guide Raphael
Ahmed Salah is another of
the flying instructors who
don’t teach flying. His role is
very different from the crane
instructors who take helicopters
out to rigs and then go one-to-
one with operators. He takes the
chopper, but when he gets there
he might have fifteen people
sitting in front of him.
His target is to introduce the
drilling team to a training
program that is computer-based,
that is not a test and will last
longer than his two or three
day visit. In fact it is a starting
point for an educational process
that sees the whole world as
a classroom. Unlike vessels,
rigs have pretty high quality
Internet connections, so once the
contact is established between
participant and instructor, the
miles between them are no longer
a barrier.
‘One of the biggest hurdles to
overcome was the conception
that we head out to assess and
make career judgments. That
is not the case. The program is
purely for their own development,
there are no marks,’ says Ahmed.
TIDE OF KNOWLEDGEWhat he shows them is basically
a video manual which takes
them stage by stage through a
well control situation using the
graphics and simulation from the
programs taught in Aberdeen,
Chennai, Dubai, Houston, Rio
de Janeiro, Svendborg and
Stavanger. The familiar interface
is backed up by three test
scenarios, which the ‘student’
can do in their own time when on
board, but again there is no pass
mark. If stuck by the paperwork
they can refer to the video manual
and if still stuck, there is an open
line to Ahmed and his colleagues
back in Svendborg. It is all about
raising the level of knowledge on
board.
The feedback from the first
sessions on Maersk Resolve,
out in the Danish sector of the
North Sea, was very positive. The
feeling was that they liked the
strong focus on a specific task and
thought that the principle could
be applied to other topics like
underbalanced drilling.
It is difficult to categorize what
this type of training is. The term
e-learning has often been tainted
by too many ill-conceived cheap
programs and in a technical
way it is hard to come up with
a different term of what Ahmed
has created. It is friendlier than
e-learning, more flexible, freer to
use in terms of allocation time
and very fundamental. Perhaps
it is f-learning, or OBL, on board
learning. ●
Beyond e-learning, the on board training session that leaves no marks
Switching to Manual24
27
Music Player Daemon – a music-player server
Miami Police Department – of course
Multiple Purpose Document – used by airlines to pay for services not airfares
Mesoscale precipitation discussion – a short-term meteorological forecast issued by US weather forecasters concerning heavy precipitation and flash flooding
Managed Pressure Drilling – general term for controlling the mud circulation to optimize the bottom-hole pressure
It’s the bottom one that makes
most sense to anyone in the
oil industry. Yet although the
process has been around for quite
some time, it is older than any of
the rigs that use it, the term still
manages to confuse, or at the very
least cloud the mind of those in
the industry who don’t use it in
their daily work.
So we asked someone who knows,
Martin Brand an instructor at
Maersk Training in Houston, the
five classic questions, what, why,
how, where and when.
WHAT IS MPD?MPD, or Managed Pressure
Drilling, is the use of specialized
equipment (which can include
such items as a Rotating Control
Device, additional choke manifold,
drill string check valves and fluid/
solids control equipment among
others) to control the pressure
in a well being drilled. Some is
positioned beneath the rig floor
in the drill string and fluid return
system, whilst other pieces can be
located on deck. As a result it can
help prevent catastrophic well
control incidents.
WHY IS IT USED?MPD is used for various reasons. It
has the proven ability to make the
drilling operation (an inherently
dangerous process) safer, more
efficient and cost effective. It
allows for closer monitoring of the
well and more accurate detection
of any anomalies encountered
and therefore enhanced response
capabilities.
HOW IS IT USED?Managed Pressure Drilling relies
heavily on the use of a Rotating
Control Device (RCD), which is a
major component in providing a
closed, pressurised system. This
allows for a constant bottom-hole
pressure to be applied and also
ensures much greater control
over fluids flowing in and out
of the well. Volume control is a
major component of well control
alongside keeping the bottom-
hole pressure constant (equal to,
or slightly greater than formation
pressure).
WHERE IS IT USED?MPD is available on all rig types,
from Land Rigs, Jack Up Rigs,
Tender Rigs, Semi-Submersibles
(DP / Moored) and Dynamically
Positioned Drill Ships.
WHEN IS IT USED?MPD is becoming more common
place, and in some examples, a
necessity, to meet the increasing
demands and challenges of the
drilling industry, both onshore
and offshore.
It can be extremely useful if
the well has very tight margins
between letting in an influx (kick)
or breaking down the formation,
has a high risk of flowing due to
the well conditions, or we are
likely to experience problems
such as differential sticking.
So now you know. ●
What is MPD?
29
They’d been in boxes in the
roof-space for thirty odd hot
summers and thirty odd shivering
winters. In fact they’d been in
several lofts, but in none of them
had they seen the light of day,
they just baked and froze. It was
remarkable they still existed.
Old 35mm negatives, black and
white and in colour and more
remarkably, the camera on which
many of them had been taken.
It was like the scene from
Christmas Vacation with Chevy
locked in the loft with only his old
family films for company. Except
that these didn’t flicker and talk,
they just silently unpeeled the
past.
A few years back I’d bought a
converter to lift the images from
obscurity and put them into
a digital folder. At the time it
seemed a very difficult operation
and after several attempts I gave
up. Christmas after lunch is not
the best time to toy with new
technology. Two years on I tried
the snaps without the snaps and
it proved to be just plug and play.
So basic, so simple. For three days
I was on a trip back in time.
I’ll take you there, but there is
a serious side to this. That’s the
conclusion, but first the journey.
There was a snap of a Japanese
tourist I shared a bus ride round
London with in the early Nineties.
It was an unremarkable photo
but the memory was sharp. He’d
been merrily clicking away at
the sights with his own camera,
but I know he’s not sitting at
home in Tokyo looking at them
and reminiscing. That’s because
moments earlier we’d caught him
on film jamming his Canon and
then opening the back, pulling
out the film, stretching it up to
the light to check the sprockets
and then winding it back into the
spool, reinserting into camera and
carrying on. I’m sure he’s much
more comfortable in the digital
age.
Then there was Bo Gritz, the guy
William Shafner gave $10,000
Poopdeck 26 · 29
Bo on board viewing a potential ‘gunboat’
for the screen rights to his life as
America’s most decorated soldier;
the guy who disappeared with the
$50,000 kitty designed to fund a
treasure hunt I was involved in.
He re-appeared, the money didn’t.
A guy so devious he makes Walter
Mitty seem like Gandi. The picture
of him was in Florida trying to
source a boat to search for the
treasure. His number one priority
was for a boat with enough space
to mount a Howitzer – he was
big into guns. He’s the guy they
modelled the ‘A Team’ commander
on and a movie in himself. Check
him out on Google where someone
calls him ‘A Legend in His Own
Mind.’ The film’s already got a
title.
The funny thing about the
pictures was not their content,
but their ability to reopen long
shut doors from the past. The
Japanese tourist and Bo pictures
were fairly average images that
said little, but they each revealed
a full catalogue of memories not
caught on camera. Like trigger-
happy Bo deciding because of
piracy, that we all needed gun
practice and wangled our way
into Palm Beach PD’s shooting
range with a couple of magnums
– not the ice cream, the I scream,
version.
Then there were numerous
pictures of my three children
when young – thankfully since
one was a boy, I didn’t guess
them all wrong. This is where the
lessons learnt slowly started to
creep in. I found my first digital
camera, it took a whooping 1.2
megapixel sensor of a photo,
but there was no memory card,
no pics. They are probably on
a discarded hard-drive for
which the transformer has
long since gone, the format long
since changed and the means
of transfer long since lost. The
negatives kicked around because
they were clearly what they
were, you could see what they
held. They survived many junk
culls because, although fairly
useless in the state they were in,
they were hard to throw away.
The hardware with the first
digital pics in is in all likelihood
somewhere in a re-cycle bin,
disk corrupted and memories
forgotten.
The camera stored images on a
long redundant card, actually
it was more like a flimsy bit of
brittle plastic about the size of a
stamp and only a little thicker.
It had the annoying habit of
splitting and in the process losing
all that was on it. That’s the point,
they are not memory cards, they
are very temporary storage units.
How many pictures have you
taken on your phone, marvelled
at the quality, and then placed
them somewhere you will never
find them. How many pictures
have you taken on you camera,
reviewed on the small screen and
then never looked at again? What
happens when, in thirty years,
you are up in the loft and you
stumble upon an old phone or old
camera? Of course there is iCloud,
but I’m not sure I would want
to put all my eggs into a basket
which I can in no way work out
where it is or how it works, who
controls it, let alone be confident
that it will still be up there in
2050.
Within a century we went from
sepia on glass to wonderful
depth in colour on 35mm.
Within a decade we went from
1.2 megapixels to 4K. All very
impressive. I’ll just mention
one word for those who think
memories are not fragile, Kodak.
●
His number one priority was for a boat with enough space to mount a Howitzer – he was big into guns
30 · Poopdeck 26
Hamburgefintsiv 31Poopdeck 26 · 31Magnum time for treasure hunter Moira Lister, the lady who had the map
Hamburgefintsiv 32
ContactEditorial issues and suggestions:Richard Lightbody - [email protected]
Names and emails of those able and eager to help with specific enquiries arising out of this issue
Sales enquiries Aberdeen (UK): [email protected]
Sales enquiries Brazil:[email protected]
Sales enquiries Esbjerg (DK): [email protected]
Sales enquiries India:[email protected]
Sales enquiries Middle East:[email protected]
Sales enquiries Newcastle (UK):[email protected]
Sales enquiries [email protected]
Sales enquiries Norway: [email protected]
Sales enquiries Svendborg (DK):[email protected]
Sales enquiries United [email protected]
Or visit our website www.maersktraining.com