Crane Boom Access Solution

Project Background

Cranes in the offshore environment are a critical piece of equipment - without them its impossible to operate an oil rig efficiently. They bring on critical supplies to keep the rig and its crew running and without them operations grind to a halt quicky.

The maintenance of offshore cranes is a double edged sword - on one hand they are needed 24/7 to keep the place alive however this also means it's extremely disruptive to production to take them out of service for extended periods of time. 

Our customer had challenged us to develop a range of quick to deploy access solutions that would improve their ability to maintain the cranes and also allow them to return to service quickly if needed. Our crane boom access system is one such solution developed by HAKI to help offshore operators maintain their cranes. 

Client Initial Specified Work Scope

Our customer contracted us to develop a solution for blasting and painting offshore crane booms that solved the problems with using traditional scaffolding.

Their experience showed that the problems were significant enough to continually defer the scope until either the crane would be down rated due to poor condition or allowed to degrade to the stage where a boom swap was the only option.

The solution was initially trialled onshore before being deployed in an offshore environment.

The key challenges were;​​​​​

• Avoiding the removal of the crane from service for weeks while the scaffolding is built, and the works completed.
• Reducing labour and impact on POB.
• Reducing equipment on hire to both save rental cost and shipping / deck space costs.
• Allowing the crane to quickly return to service at short notice if required with rapid removal of the system.

​​​​​​

Our Solution

The solution was developed and tested onshore prior to being deployed offshore.

HAKI Access designed a solution based around the TechniSpan x500 lightweight suspended access system. The system was designed to be suspended from the crane boom tubulars from rigging and this could be relocated easily to allow contact points to be eliminated by the end of the scope.

A HAKI roof was then punched up from the platform to provide the necessary encapsulation. Both the platform and the roof worked together to allow the system to be removed in half a shift. To remove it the sheeting was retracted, the top sections of the roof removed and then the platform along with the roof walls were lowered on chain blocks to the deck and all rigging stripped.

To relocate the habitat, the entire system was cross hauled along the boom with lifting equipment. The ability to quickly relocate reduced equipment on hire by 90% as the need to build from the ground up was removed and only 30m2 of platform was required.

A team of 3 HAKI Access personnel were mobilised for the scope to work along side 3 of our customers team. A total of 6 POB were required for this boom refurbishment – a huge saving when compared to past projects.

Safety & Commercial Benefits

Our innovative solution allowed the painting blasting team to access all required areas of the boom for lattice weld repairs and also blasting and painting operations. It can be relocated along its temporary runway beams to any position on the boom and then locally sheeted in to suit. 

The sheeted habitat contained all spent abrasive while also controlling the environment to ensure optimum conditions for paint application. The sheets can be quickly retracted in the event of an incoming storm.

In addition to providing full access with a fraction of the equipment and shipping costs that traditional scaffolding would entail, the solution can quickly be removed from the crane boom in less than one shift to allow crane operations to resume before reinstating it to continue with the maintenance works.