During the period 23-24 September 2008, the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) conducted an audit of crane and lifting operations at StatoilHydro's (SH's) process facility at Mongstad. SH's governing documents have been used as a basis for operation of the facility and, in addition to the regulations, have also been used as a basis for the audit.

By Decree of the Crown Prince Regent dated 19 December 2003, the PSA has been assigned regulatory responsibility for supervision of safety and working environment in the petroleum activities at certain facilities on land.

To accommodate the guidelines and performance goals in the subsequent award letters, the PSA conducted an audit of StatoilHydro's management systems and requirements for conducting crane and lifting operations on Mongstad.

The audit was conducted on the basis of the Temporary Regulations of 19 December 2003 No. 1595 relating to safety and working environment for certain petroleum facilities on land and associated pipeline systems (the Temporary Regulations), including the Regulations of 26 June 1998 No. 608 relating to use of work equipment, with amendments, most recently of 13 September 2004 No. 129 (the User Regulations) cf. the Regulations of 19 August 1994 No. 820 relating to machines with amendments, most recently of 14 June 2005 (the Machine Regulations), see in general Section 8 of the User Regulations.

The purpose of the audit was to verify that StatoilHydro conducts crane and lifting operations at Mongstad in accordance with the applicable regulations.

The audit was conducted in the form of interviews with selected personnel, verifications at the facility and reviews of documentation.

Two nonconformities were observed in relation to deficient certification of the bridge at Quay 7 and mobile cranes used at the facility without audio or visual warnings in the event of overloads.

Three improvement items were also observed in relation to operational, organizational and technical factors.

Tags: Petroleum Safety Authority, StatoilHydro