OFFSHORE WORK Between 1976 and 1991, over half of my working hours were spent offshore, often as far as 120 miles away from land. On my first year of traveling in the Gulf of Mexico, I was working as a Radley Electric, Inc. contract electrician performing installation and maintenance for Texaco, Inc. at a location about thirty three miles from Sabine Pass, TX. Two additional Texaco locations were forty five miles from Angleton, Texas. Travel to the offshore locations was either by helicopter or large crew boats. The choice was generally determined by the size or weight of materials aside from personnel that was to be ferried to the work location. While working for Sun Oil Co. offshore, nearly all of the ten locations that we served for contract electrical service were at least one hundred and ten miles from Sabine Pass, TX. A call for work to a location might be expanded to moving to several locations for additional repairs as news was passed around by supervisors of the various facilities and a three day trip could evolve into two weeks before seeing land and home again. One trip grew to eighteen days! Helicopter travel was quicker and smoother, especially if weather had created high waves in the Gulf. Both means of travel had safety problems but helicopter crashes seemed to be more often than accidents with boats. Loading and unloading at rig landings in high seas was dangerous and injuries and deaths did occur but mostly when obese workers used a swing rope. Crane lift using a personnel basket is relatively safe if the crane operator is practiced at the operation. Most helicopter accidents were caused by hydraulic or turbine engine failure in landing or take off at the offshore site. Often a trip to an offshore location can be a bit of a guessing game as to what to take for a repair because the person making the call may not have any idea as to the nature of the failure. A small set of tools and a few replacement components are usually packed for the initial trip and after the problem is diagnosed, additional parts may be hot-shot to the location by helicopter. I even sent a helicopter to Barfield Street behind my home in Sour Lake to gather a list of parts called to Radley’s shop. Due to the speed of helicopter flight, the required items in were in hand within two hours! Working offshore can be a bit disconcerting due to the distance and if you are new to the environment, you are likely bothered by the fact that you can only see water! There is nothing to see on the horizon and it usually takes a day or two to quit searching for the sight of land! Many offshore locations are small, unmanned and operate automatically with safety shutdown controls and remote alarm systems to report upsets requiring personnel to rectify the problem. Larger production and drilling sites have generators for electrical power and crew quarters with living and dining facilities. Working offshore can be rewarding, considering the higher rates for labor and most personnel on regular two week shifts enjoy the off time onshore. Contract workers are usually on call-out basis and serve the time required, returning onshore when the task is completed. I always enjoyed working offshore and even though I had a few close calls on helicopter rides, I was lucky that I never had an injury during my fourteen years in the Gulf of Mexico. Glen Radley
Posted on: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 20:01:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015