Offshore safety
I’m subscribed to the tag “offshore” on Flickr, out of intellectual curiosity. My feed reader pulled out some pictures of a burning facility today. One look at this and all the safety precautions and procedures, that I was briefed while on a visit to Juliet-Echo-Alpha, came rushing back.
During the briefings, we were informed that their best time—per the routine excercise, to the assembly of all the personnel on the facility—was about 4 minutes. Under those four minutes, they would all suit-up and be ready to board the liferaft. Anything over 5 minutes was considered a “bye-bye”.
There is a reason why time ticks like a bomb. Unlike other fires, the hydrocarbon type results in an explosion or blast and there’s no time to lose before one of those pressurized vessels rip apart.