As each goose flaps its wings it creates an ‘Uplift’ for the other birds that follow. By flying in a ‘V’ formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are travelling on the thrust of one and another.

When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. It quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

If we have as much sense as a goose we stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. We are willing to accept help and give help to others.

When the lead goose tires, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing the leadership. As with geese, people are interdependant on each other’s skills, capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents and resources.

The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

We need to make sure honking is encouraging, In groups where there is encouragement, the production is much greater.

When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down, two geese drop down out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it.

They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again. Then they launch out with another formation or catch up with their flock.

If we have as much sense as geese, we will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.

While carrying out routine tasks on the Deck - Moving Material (Pipe bundle) from a basket to allow the basket to be moved. Simple procedures were ignored resulting in a Fatal accident.

The accident occurred due to lack of communication between the Crane Crew and other operatives working on deck, there was no tag -line on the pipe bundle, men were working under a load, the load was lowered into an area out of the sight of the Crane operator, no banksman was present to control the lift .

Key Lessons - Crane Lifts

• Always use a Banksman
• Always use Tag -Lines, When it’s out of control it’s to Late !!
• Never work underneath an operating crane.
• Never assume. Assumptions by the crane operator and Schlumberger crew contributed to this.
• Communications is the key. Make sure everyone involved and affected is aware of what is happening.

Large volumes of Inert Nitrogen/Inert Gas may be present in production systems when purging and gas freeing.

While this information is contained in your Site Safety Pack (Risk Assessment & COSHH Assessment) and the Permit issued by the client, other conditions can influence the area where you are working.

As you can see from the Communication from Foinaven very calm conditions with fog allowed the gas to collect and starve the operatives of oxygen causing one to pass-out and the other to come close to the same.

What have we learned from this incident ?

We MUST at all times be vigilant in our efforts to ensure the area we work in is safe, and the task has been assessed and is safe to carry out.