The first edition of the Dynamic Positioning Assurance Framework, Risk-Based Guidance has been issued by OCIMF.

Within the seventeen (17) page document is the foreword which goes into some history of DP operations, the standard list of abbreviations and a glossary, a fairly comprehensive bibliography is included, which leads onto the four (4) main sections: “Introduction”, “Qualification, experience and competency of DP personnel”, “DP assurance framework” and “Use of manual mode to manage unmeasured external forces on a DP vessel”

Now while the document is laid out more like a paper than an actual tool that a crew member on board a working unit could use, there are some pieces of information that could be useful, and it certainly shows what the oil companies that require DP operations at their assets are looking for in regards to best practices.

A read through the document highlights the following two paragraphs:

While participation in the NI DP Operator (DPO) training scheme is voluntary, the DPO certification that the NI issues is respected. At its 66th session in 1996, the International Maritime Organization (IMO)’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) considered the training of DPOs in relation to the 1989 Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU) Code. The authority of the NO to issue certification for DPOs stems from IMO MSC Circ. 738 (2006) and directly references IMCA M117 for the criteria for training DPOs. IMCA M117 in turn recognizes the NO as the body for certifying DPOs, together with the Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD). The NI DPO training scheme became the basis for DP competency which remains in use within the offshore industry today. OCIMF supports the NI as providers of the core DP industry competence scheme.

(The bold text above was added by DPSAO) and

This paper provides guidance for establishing a risk-based assurance framework and DP operational best practices.

The rest of the paper goes on to re-enforce the use of MTS operation guidelines, IMCA guidelines and other available recommended practices as listed in the Bibliography. A simple chart showing what parts of those guidelines require completing for tasks being undertaken is included in the document, but is only putting down in print what the industry has mostly been doing.

OCIMF do categorize the risks to low, high and highest risk, with Category A as the low risk. Which is counter intuitive to DP operators and DP SME’s as category A’s are generally seen as the worst, going down to category C’s as low risk in DP trials. This may be something that can be addressed in the second addition.

There has been a noticeable shift within the industry recently, with more focus on acceptable risks and mitigating the risks to as low as acceptable, instead of as low as practicable. This makes a significant difference in the risk profile and work profile of a vessel operating in the offshore sector. However, it does push those decision making scenarios back to the crew members and representatives on board the vessel, and the personnel on board may be conflicted as being used to being dictated to on how to operate the vessel whilst in field or always at the “highest risk” category as stated in the OCIMF document.

We believe there is a need to streamline the risk management of vessel DP operations, and this document does go a small way towards that without being too prescriptive.

A copy of the document can be found here