Standards, specifications, procedures and certificates

Authority

Laws

Set the fundamental requirements and the framework agreement

Regulations

Give supplementary rules to the laws

The purpose by the guide lines is to describe how the requirements in the regulations can be met. The guide lines are not legally binding. However, they have to be studied together with the regulations to get a complete understanding. Guide lines are also used for regulatory information.

Current authorities (Norway)

• The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (Ptil, established in 2004)
• Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection. (DSB)
• Climate and Pollution Agency (Klif)
• The Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority (DAT)

The Petroleum Safety Authority (Ptil) is responsible for the development and enforcement of the regulations that regulate the security and work environments within the petroleum activities on the Norwegian continental shelf and the corresponding on shore facilities. The regulations shall ensure that the petroleum industry becomes a leading part with regard to Health, Environments and Safety (HES).

Ptil’s area of authority is all the installations and pipelines offshore and the corresponding on shore facilities:

• Snøhvit (Melkøya)
• Kollsnes
• Sture
• Tjeldbergodden
• Mongstad
• Nyhamna
• Kårstø
• Esso Slagentangen

Ptil has the responsibility in Norway for the compliance of the following laws:

• The Petroleum Act
• The Fire and Explosion Protection Law
• The Working Environment Act
• The law of inspection of electrical facilities and equipment
• The Generalization Act

Regulations

• The Framework Regulation
• The Installation Regulations
• The regulations dealing with leadership and the duty to provide information
• The Activity Regulation
• Technical and Operational Regulations

The technical and operational regulations for offshore facilities differ somewhat from those for on shore facilities.

The Framework Regulation

The purpose of this regulation is:

• To secure a high competence within Health, Environments and Security (HES) for businesses included in the regulation.
• To achieve a systematically implementation of measures to meet the requirements and goals given in the HES legislation.
• Develop and improve the HES level.

The installation Regulation

• A regulation about building and equipping installations within the petroleum industry
• Applicable for the offshore petroleum industry
• The operator and any others taking part in the business are responsible to this regulation.
• The employees have a duty to contribute

Fire division - Class H

A division made of non-combustible materials meeting the following criteria:

• Sufficiently braced / supported
• Prevents flames and smoke to be spread within two hours of a normed fire test
• Constructed so that the average temperature and the temperature at any single point on the unexposed side does not increase more than respectively 140°C and 180°C above the original temperature within the following time intervals:
  • Class H-120: 120 minutes
  • Class H-60: 60 minutes
  • Class H-0: 0 minutes

Fire divisions - Class A

A division made of non-combustible materials meeting the following criteria:

• Sufficiently braced / supported
• Prevents flames and smoke to be spread within two hours of a normed fire test

• Constructed so that the average temperature and the temperature at any single point on the unexposed side does not increase more than respectively 140°C and 180°C above the original temperature within the following time intervals:
  • Class A-60: 60 minutes
  • Class A-30: 30 minutes
  • Class A-15: 15 minutes
  • Class A- 0: 0 minutes

Fire divisions - Class B

A division made of non-combustible materials meeting the following criteria:

• Prevents flames and smoke to be spread within two hours of a normed fire test

• Constructed so that the average temperature and the temperature at any single point on the unexposed side does not increase more than respectively 140°C and 225°C above the original temperature within the following time intervals:
  • Class B-30: 30 minutes
  • Class B-15: 15 minutes
  • Class B- 0: 0 minutes

• The guide line §3, describes that a normed fire test, Class H and Class A should follow ISO 834.
• Possibly insulation materials should be fire tested at a national or international recognized institution.

The installation Regulation - § 12 Materials

The materials to be used at the installation shall be considered with regard to

• The heat load requirements
• Production-, joints- and building processes
• Possibly use of material protection
• Fire engineering characteristics
• Probable operational changes
• The possibility for a reduction of the future use of chemicals and pollution
• The possibility for a reduction of waste, including re-use and re-circulation
• The employees’ health and work environments
• Possible future removal

To meet the material requirements and their protection needs with regard to HES, the following standards should be used:

• Norsok M – 501 for the assessment of paint/coatings, pretreatment , application and control
• Norsok M – 004 for insulation of equipment
• By evaluating a material with regard to fire engineering characteristics, non-combustible materials should be chosen. In cases where combustible materials are utilized, the materials should have limited spreading of flames, low development of smoke, low heat release and low toxicity.
• When testing the fire engineering characteristics of a material, the following standards should be used:
  • ISO 1182 for non-combustibility
  • ISO 5660 – 1 for development of smoke and heat release
  • IMO Resolution A.653(16) for flame spreading
• Materials that alone, or in combination with other materials, represents a HES risk to employees, should not be used.

The installation Regulation § 23 Noise and acoustics

Noice and acoustics requirements shall be made, based on planned crew and the functionality of an individual area or room. The noice level and acoustics shall not be an obstacle for communication that has a security importance. The noice level in cabins, break rooms and living quarters shall be reduced as much as possible to contribute to the necessary rest.

The guide line describes that the installation shall be designed in a way so that no employee is exposed to hearing damaging noice.

The limit values for hearing damaging noice are:

• LEX12h= 83 dB for daily noice exposure
• Lpc,peak =130 dB for top value of sound pressure level

The Installation Regulation - §25 Lighting

• The lighting shall be in a manner that cares for work environments and security at work, traffic and restitution.
• The lighting of work areas and living rooms may be an artificial light source, daylight or direct sunlight. If possible, the work areas and living rooms shall have daylight and view.

The guide line tells that NORSOK S-002N should be used for the individual areas and rooms at the installation to meet the lighting requirements,

The Installation Regulation - §29 passive Fire Protection (PFP)
Passive Fire Protection (PFP), if used, shall be designed in a way that secures sufficient fire resistance for the relevant construction, with regard to load bearing capacity, integrity and insulation capacity during a dimensioning fire. Further the design shall not take the cooling effect of equipment for fire fighting into account.

The guide line says that to assess the fire load from a dimensioning fire (first part of § 11), and to determine a construction’s fire resistance, the test methods in the following standards should be used:

• ISO 834 (Fire resistance tests, dim. of thickness of material)
• ISO 3008 (Fire-resistance tests - door assemblies)
• ISO 3009 (Fire-resistance tests - windows)
• NT Fire 021 (Insulation of steel structures: Fire protection)
• The test method, “Jet – fire resistance test of passive fire protection materials”, by Health and Safety Executive and Ptil should be used to determine the capacity of fire protective materials with regard to jet-fire resistance.
• To meet the requirements for load bearing capacity, integrity and insulation capacity, NORSOK S-001 should be used.

The Istallation Regulation - §30 Fire divisions

The main area of installations shall be separated by fire divisions that resist the dimensioning fire- and explosion loads, and further at least meet the fire class H0, if they may be exposed to hydro carbon fires.

Rooms with important functions and important equipment, and rooms with high fire risk, shall be separated from the surroundings by means of fire divisions that; have a fire class equivalent to the type of fire they will be exposed to, and have the dimensioning fire- and explosion loads they will be exposed to. Transit sealing systems through the divisions shall not weaken the fire divisions, and doors in the fire divisions shall be self closing.

The guide line says that the main fire divisions in closed areas should resist an explosion load of at least 70kPa i 0,2 seconds.

Fire divisions for a fire protecting material or fire divisions coated with a fire protecting material that do not meet the non-combustibility requirements, may be used if a total assessment shows that it is sound in terms of security. Transits through the divisions should be tested according to:

• ISO 3008 or NS 3907 for doors
• ISO 3009 or NS 3908 for windows
• IMO 2010 FTP Code for other types of transits, like channel-, pipe- and cable transits.

The Installation Regulation - §31 Fire division in living quarters

The living quarters shall be protected by fire divisions that at least meet the requirements of fire class:

• H60 for outer walls adjacent to process- or drilling areas and which may be exposed to a fire from these.
• A60 for the remaining outer walls.

• A0 for the living quarters’ outer walls if they are placed in a secure distance from the process- or drilling areas. Further for outer walls of the emergency quarter with accommodation on less advanced installations, if the emergency quarter is separated from the production- or wellhead area by means of a main fire division that meets the requirements of fire class H0.
• The inside of the living quarter shall be designed in a way that limits fire spreading.

The guide line says that to meet the requirements for inside design, NORSOK S - 001 should be followed.

Standards

A standard is a technical specification describing how different items is to be defined in an unambiguously way. It may for instance describe measures and weight, or it may describe working methods as quality control in a company. The standards are usually made and maintained by a national or international standardisation organisation.

There are a lot of different standards, for instance for:

• Measure and weight ( the SI system)
• Quality standards that shall secure that workmanship and production meet a defined quality. ( ISO 834, ISO 12944, ISO 8501/2/3, ISO 4628)

Specifications

A specification is an employer’s description of work. It’s purpose is to focus on the employer’s requirements within, for instance:

• Scope of work and the final work’ quality
• HES
• The competence of the operator and it’s leadership
• Insulation classes and insulation materials
• Execution of work and self control

Procedures

A procedure is an operator’ s description of work to be carried out to meet the requirements given in an employer’s specification. A typical example is an insulation procedure specification (IPS)

Certificates

A certificate confirms that a product correspond to a standard or another technical specification. The certificate shall be issued by an independent institution.

Typical example of a certificate:

The NORSOK standards are developed by the Norwegian petroleum industry to secure satisfactory security, value creation and cost efficiency regarding development and operation in the petroleum industry. The NORSOK standards shall, as far as possible, be a substitute to company specifications, and shall be referred to in the authorities’ regulations.

NORSOK M-004 covers the minimum requirements for insulation on offshore installations and on shore facilities.

This includes:

• Thermal insulation
• Acoustic insulation
• Fire protection
• Personal protection
• Sealing of transits

The standard is not valid for submarine installations, the smelting industry, or ventilation related systems.

The NORSOK M-004 insulation classes

Additionally a combination of these classes may also be used.

CINI – is an international standard for industrial insulation

CINI is an international foundation, established in 1989 in a cooperation of Shell, DSM, Dow and Akso Nobel.The CINI specification addresses thermal insulation. It contains 10 chapters including general requirements, specifications and detailed sketches of technical insulation systems.

The purpose of CINI is to promote professional and best economical insulation practice.

CINI gathers knowledge and best practice from industrial companies, insulation contractors, insulation suppliers and insulation consultants. The result is that CINI is able to inform about optimal technical, economical and secure execution of insulation works.

The target group of CINI is administrative and technical personnel from companies assigning insulation contracts for new buildings or for maintenance work. The target group also includes insulation contractors, engineering offices, equipment suppliers, authorities and education institutions. The CINI hand book, dealing with thermal insulation, is available as a book, CD and online. It is updated on a yearly basis. (www.cini.nl/en).