An Extreme Dropped Object Case Study

This case is of course not your day to day example of a Dropped Object; it’s probably something of a one off, however it demonstrates the depth of resources that DSL has within to deal with the most extreme problems that you may encounter.

Case Study

One of our customers came to us with a unique problem that had arisen due to an offshore crane boom failure. Due to some type of system failure the boom had rose too far and consequently resulted in the boom snapping at the base and leaving a 136′ high boom leaning precariously against the support structure and partly penetrating the deck, as illustrated.

This project raised a series of unique concerns to deal with, including;

• Unstable & Damaged Structure
• Damaged and unstable adjoining accessories
• 2t block & hook hanging unsecured
• No existing calculations to develop a solution from
• No established procedures to deal with the situation
• No crane to assist removal

Planning

Every aspect of this problem was unprecedented and planning, preparation, design of temporary supports, lifting structures and the dismantling procedure had to be developed from scratch. This project encompassed, (and demonstrated) almost all of the company’s range of services and expertise, including design and manufacture, planning & project management, decommissioning experience and expertise, specialist rigging solutions, offshore construction services, and of course a safety first attitude to the problem.

Above all, we had to establish how we were going to make the structure stable and safe, prior to allowing personnel to even get onto the structure and start evaluating the options for the dismantling process.

With our Engineering, Production and Offshore Services Departments working together with Project Management we evolved the options until we quite quickly established a satisfactory procedure for the dismantling of the structure. However, one major hurdle was that we had no other supporting crane in the area that could reach and assist with the installation of the supports, temporary steelwork and dismantling system that we had designed. We therefore also had to design a simple but effective portable lifting device to enable us to carry out all the lifting that we needed to achieve during this project.

With the boom secured and the temporary lifting device delivered and installed, the installation of temporary supports gets underway.

The Dismantling Process

Once we had secured the structure and installed the additional support cradles to facilitate the weight and descent of the structure we commenced the dismantling process, as illustrated.

The support structure was designed and installed to manage the controlled dismantling and security of the structure at deck level.

Summary

This project enabled us to once again demonstrate the broad range of experience and expertice that is retained within our company, for both onshore and offshore elements of our ectivities, and how they can be combined to solve even your most extreme problems, we call it “Depth of Service”. It’s something that’s worth considering when evaluating who can solve your problems, not simply identify them!

Testimonial

“Once again your crews did an excellent job, and very professional on the port crane, we appreciated all of their work and professionalism, a great team.”
– Customer