Specialisation

[rovnumpty]

With all the talk of the rates, state of the industry etc. Some food for thoughts Gents.

I’m sure some of you out there will remember when tooling tech was merely another skill the rov crew needed to have.

Now look at them. Tooling techs get about the same as a ROV supervisor.

Perhaps we should specialise the industry completely. Instead of two ‘pilot/techs’ and a ‘supervsior’, we should break the job down into all the specialisms.

Each shift would require
1 x pilot who only flies the ROV
1 x manip operator
1 x winch operator
1 x shift supervisor

Additionally, each system would require the following on 24 hr standby.
1 x Electrical tech
1 x mechanical tech
1 x hydraulic tech
1 x Electronic tech.

Of course all these people would need managed so
1 x system manager.

That makes for a grand total of 13 per system. Don’t think there’d be any complaints about lack of work then.

Far fetched? maybe not so far.

My LOLER knowledge isn’t that great, so maybe someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that certified lifting gear, like our winch and A-frame, should only be operated by someone with formal, DOCUMENTED training.

All the companies I’ve worked for have been quite happy to send me offshore to operate, and fix, certified lifting appartus with no documeted training, yet I’m not allowed to drive the forklift in the yard, or work the overhead crane without the ‘proper training’. And I’m damn sure not allowed to work on either of them as I’m not a ‘qualified service technician’.

[JL Schnabel]

😀 Damn well said rov.numpty 😀

[Archibald Carruthers]

Yeah wekk said Numpty,

Thats a great idea – add to that the times we have to run cables to the bridge, survey shack, clients cabin, nav etc – not to mention fix it when it all goes to shit. Strip the arms down on deck, splice cables – should there not be some sort of test cert for that – especially if we are working with divers?

You could make this list endless.

[Ray Shields]

My LOLER knowledge isn’t that great, so maybe someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s my understanding that certified lifting gear, like our winch and A-frame, should only be operated by someone with formal, DOCUMENTED training.

It states that people must be competent. A definition of competemt was once given as "someone who has not been proved to be incompetent"!. It is up to an individual company to prove (should anything go wrong) that any personnel who operates their lifting equipment to adequately show that personnel were competent. this does not necessarily a piece of paper or a formal training course.

Also note that LOLER is only applicable within the UK, it is arguable that once you go beyond the 12 mile limit it is no longer applicable. However, different Maritine or regulations relatingto the flag state of the vessel would take over instead.

Tooling has got a lot more complicated over the last several years, its no longer just a torque tool that is held by the ROV in the manip. Arguably, a TDU for example is another ROV albeit with no thrusters. Why not have a seperate person or team to operate/maintain it?

[rovnumpty]

Ray

I believe most UK companies pay lip service to LOLER no matter where they operate on the planet as it’s part of their QHSE policy.

That’s not to say it wont be ignored as soon as it becomes an issue off the coast of Nigeria!

If it isn’t covered by LOLER, then who enforces tickets for crane operators? I’ve rolled up on jobs (albiet a while ago) with a free swimming ROV launched by it’s own dedicated crane. We’re expected to drive that crane, but aren’t allowed to touch the 5 tonne ships crane next to it as we don’t have the neccesary certification.

As the the tooling, that’s the piont I’m trying to make. There was a time when the ROV crew were expected to run the Tooling – and that includes TDUs, Single points, LOT tools , etc. I spent 3 years at subsea with a TDU on the back of the sub for most of it, but only had a tooling tech for a couple of trips. It’s now expected to get a tooling tech whenever big tooling jobs come along, taking some of the work load from the ROV crew.

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