Cosalt Offshore is to provide Dolphin Drilling with its first lifeboats designed to meet new HSE guidelines allowing for offshore workers being larger-sized than in the past.

Previously, the industry worked to 75kg per person but the new guidelines suggest bringing lifeboats in line with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidance for helicopter flights offshore of 98kg per person.

Cosalt Offshore was commissioned to carry out a study into how the “Big Persons in Lifeboats’’ guidance from the HSE would impact on existing lifeboats and found a solution involving new, lighter vessels with additional internal space.

The six-figure deal involves Cosalt Offshore supplying and installing four lifeboats (two to hold 60 people and two to take 50 people) for the Borgsten Dolphin rig in the North Sea.

Cosalt Offshore Chairman Calum Melville said: “This is the first contract of its kind that we have won and we faced extensive competition for it. The quality of our products and the legislative support service we offer secured the work for us, along with our solid technical ability and experienced engineers on the ground in key locations for the North Sea.

“Dolphin Drilling is an important client for us and we hope winning this initial contract will lead to future orders and, in turn, to us taking on more people. There is great potential for additional business as operators address the new guidelines from the HSE. As well as supplying the lifeboats, we are to handle the commissioning, testing and installation work. As an added benefit, the new lifeboats utilise their existing davit systems and so are more cost-effective.’’

Tags: Cosalt Offshore, Cosalt Offshore, Dolphin Drilling, Dolphin Drilling