Bells goin offshore: Oil Rig Trainning

[Bells]

So, i finally landed a job as an Offshore Oil Rig Safety Technician, was looking for one of these for quite some time, as around here landing a job with a certain degree of legal responsability can be quite hard to get.

It's not just having the qualifications, you need a decent network of contacts to nail anything beyond a entry level position. So i'm quite excited with this!

But, here before you can set foot on a Oil rig there are a few safety training you need to do. This entire week i've been doing this specific training, and next week i'm doing another one, more specific for the job.

So, out of curiosity and trivia let me share with you guys what it's all about.

The first part of this course is pretty much just Theory, Mind numbing theory. It starts at 7am and goes all the way to 5pm, which 2 15 min breaks and 1 30 min launch break.

First is all about Basic Safety Procedures in a Oil Rig. You learn where everything is, the chain of command, and the basic safety procedures. What has priority over what and stuff like that.

Then you move on to learning basic First Aid, learning CPR, basic rescue Technics... those are mixed with Theory and practice.

Then, you get your basic fire training. Learning what fire is, how it works, the different types of fires and different ways to deal with them on a Rig, on land and on the Helicopter that takes you to the rig.

Then, of course there is the Sensitivity training... on a Oil Rig, you have most people trapped in there working 12 hours shifts for 15 days nonstop. Some rigs can have around to 200 people in there at all times. People you have to work with, eat, sleep with... you get the idea. People from different countries, cities, states, backgrounds, languages and religions so it can get messy (and if you hear some of the stories people tell... it does sometimes)

Then we're off to the more "Physical" part of Training, you have to learn how to survive in case your aircraft falls into the ocean, or in case there is a emergency evacuation on the Rig and you have to use your last resort... jump into the water.

For that, they take the entire class (around 30 people) and we go to open sea. They take a life raft, the same they have on board the rig and inflate it on the water upside down. The team leader goes there and flips it over. Then everybody boards in. To make this part easy for the simulation, at this point the water is just on our knees and waist.

Then, the raft gets dragged to open sea. away enough to feel the waves, but you can still see the shore line. We board a small ship, maybe 30~35 foot two level deck ship.

We all get up there. In full gear, the life vest, the overall we use on the rig. Everybody goes to the plank on the side of the ship and jumps right in, from the top level of the ship. There is a whole special position to dive and float that they teach you. I'm not a very good swimmer and i've never dived into open waters like this.. so... yeah... Balls were clutched in at that time. But it actually works really well!

I tried to be one of the first to jump (better to get it over with soon), but due to a mix up in the line in ended up being one of the last. Once you fall into the water, everybody needs to stay together in a survival circle, a special position in the water to conserve energy and body heat. The thing is... it drifts.

So when i jumped into the water the whole group was already a good 100 feet away when i had to start backswimming to them, and let me tell ya... it's all a simulation all right but shit gets tense real fast.

So, i get in, connect with the group, everybody is safe. We locate the raft nearby and change our formation to a convoy swim, it's actually pretty cool, we undo the circle nicely into 2 big lines and everybody swims together to it. We then board the raft again (and of course, i dive in face first...) and we head back to shore.

next day? Sore all over.

Then, last day of Physical practice. Now we do the fire fighting drill. Sunny day, and we have the full gear on. From overall to rubber boots to mask, googles and helmet. Heavy, hot and annoying.

First it's Fire Extinguishers, not overly complex thing. They have a controlled fire and you do the right procedure. Know where to shoot at, how to avoid injuries, how to approach, retreat and not fall over. Good stuff.

Then, at least we use the Fire hose in team exercise to Put out a couple of fires. For this one i decided that i wanted to be in the front of the team, handling to Nostril of the hose... might as well get used to it, since on board the safety technician has to work with the fire brigade anyways...

There is a simple procedure but it's tiring as all hell. There is a Hosue made of 2 containers. It gets filled with smoke from the top. We approach as a team, hose the Door hard. Then a team leader cracks the door open, we watch for backdraft, Fire tongues, Flash-over and other flashy named stuff...

Little problem with that, as the leader opens the dar, my Hose is open to a 90º spread, the water splashes on the door and flops right back in my face. My googles are wet, my Balaclava is wet and now i can't see or breath, but i have to push through anyway... so here we go.

Team gets in, i spray the floor and the ceiling in a "swiping" motion, little by little we force our way through, crouching the whole time due to the smoke. The other team comes from the other end and we meet in the middle. Not a sorry ass left dry now...

Drill is over and we backout, slowly.

And then... final test! 40 questions... fun.

Next day? Neck is stiff, my shoulder and abs are sore and my knees are killing me, but hey. Passed with a 9.5 out of 10! And hey, the team was made of people from all age groups i had people ranging from 22 all the way to 56, also fun

Now i rest a little, cause next week i have to due a more specific training to fight Fires on board and near Aircrafts, not mandatory like the previous one but a very good one for my CV anyways! Also, hey, i'm getting a few thousands worth of training AND my salary before i start to work, so,

Should have my first boarding next month, really pumped about it but now that i'm doing the training i can see the real scope of this thing, and it's going to be pretty intense!