The Coast Guard issued a Federal Register Notice of recommended interim voluntary guidelines concerning mobile offshore drilling units, or MODUs, and manned fixed and floating offshore facilities engaged in activities on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf. This is part of the Coast Guard’s continuing response to the explosion, fire and sinking of the MODU DEEPWATER HORIZON in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010.
- See more at: http://mariners.coastguard.dodlive.mil/2014/05/02/522014-federal-register-notice-of-outer-continental-shelf-units-fire-and-explosion-analyses/#sthash.zFvYwSqf.dpuf
The Report highlighted the following considerations as areas not specifically addressed by current regulations:
Minimum values are needed for explosion design loads for use in calculating the required blast resistance of structures;
Explosion risk analysis of the design and layout of each facility should be performed to identify high risk situations;
H-60 rated fire boundaries between the drilling area and adjacent accommodation spaces and spaces housing vital safety equipment may be necessary dependent on the arrangement of the facility;
Uniform guidelines for performing engineering evaluations to ensure adequate protection of bulkheads and decks separating hazardous areas from adjacent structures and escape routes for likely drill floor fire scenarios are necessary;
Performance-based fire risk analysis should be used to supplement the prescriptive requirements in the MODU Code; such analysis should use defined heat flux loads to calculate necessary levels of protection for structures, equipment, and vital systems that could be affected by fires on the drill floor;
Maximum allowable radiant heat exposure limits for personnel at the muster stations and lifesaving appliance launching stations in anticipated evacuation scenarios should be implemented.
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