Five workers injured in installation vessel accident at Triton Knoll wind farm

What happened

Five people were injured overnight on 8 May 2020 while working aboard the Seaway Strashnov, an installation vessel operated by Seaway Heavy Lifting, at the Triton Knoll offshore wind farm construction site about 32 kilometres off the Lincolnshire coast, UK. All five were airlifted to hospital for assessment and treatment. Three were discharged the following day, a fourth was discharged a few days later, and one remained in hospital recovering at the time of reporting.

The vessel and its remaining crew returned to port on 10 May while an investigation into the cause was launched. Innogy, the wind farm operator, and Subsea 7, the parent company of Seaway Heavy Lifting, both confirmed the incident and said they were cooperating with the relevant authorities. Neither company disclosed how the workers were injured, citing the ongoing investigation. The 857MW project was under construction and is jointly owned by innogy, J-Power and Kansai Electric Power, with innogy managing construction and long-term operation.

Contributing factors

Not reported. The cause of the accident was under investigation at the time of reporting and was not disclosed by either company.

Lessons learned

1. An installation vessel at night needs tested plans for multiple casualties and helicopter evacuation from a working deck.
2. A multi-casualty event on an installation vessel should trigger an immediate return to port to preserve evidence.
3. Vessel operator, project operator and regulator should agree investigation duties before mobilisation.

More lessons on emergency response and public communication, investigation and fleet-wide checks, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• How the five workers were injured
• Equipment or activity involved in the accident
• Downtime and cost to the project

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

oedigital.com