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Fatality at Keppel Benoi19 May 2014

The Ichthys LNG Project is a Joint Venture between INPEX group companies (the Operator), major partner TOTAL

and the Australian subsidiaries of Tokyo Gas, Osaka Gas, Chubu Electric Power and Toho Gas.

• Circumstances

 

• Date and time of accident:

- 19/05/2014 around 11.00am

• Location:

- Benoi Yard, Lower Tower, Riser Guide Tube (RGT) No 4 internal (out of 15).

• Activity:

- Preparation of the RGT No 4 welded joints, installation of a foam plug (packing) on each side of the joint to create a sealed cavity to be later filled with argon gas to create an oxygen free atmosphere during welding.

 

 

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Accident location inside the Turret

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• What happened?

 

• The deceased worker entered first the internal of the RGT from the top with rope access equipment with his supervisor as a stand by man at the top (riser deck level).

• Having no response from the worker, the stand-by watch decided to send a second man with rope access to check. As the second worker was also not giving any response, the stand-by man decided to recover him. He was suffocating but conscious.

• Immediately after the first worker was also recovered, but unconscious. CPR (cardio pulmonary resuscitation) was carried out but he remained unconscious. Supervisor activated Keppel ERP and both were sent to the hospital by ambulance at 11.45am.

• Perumal Azhaguraja (27 years old), was declared dead by the hospital doctor later in the afternoon. The second rope access worker was still under observation at the hospital at 04.30pm.

• All work in the lower turret have been stopped immediately.

• Police arrived on site at 3.30 pm to conduct investigation.

• Instruction to stop all confined space activities has been issued by Company.

• Current situation and project impact

 

• All work at Keppel Benoi stopped on the lower turret.

• Instruction given to SBM to stop all confined space works on Ichthys Turret.

• Police arrive on site this afternoon to assess if the cause of the fatality can be criminal. Once establish the Ministry of Manpower will perform an investigation.

• Work may resume on the Lower turret within a couple of days with the exception of the riser guide tubes which will require demonstration that work can be conducted safely prior to restart.

• Welding of the riser guide tubes is an activity on the critical path and delaying it will affect directly the delivery date of the Lower Turret.