Optimising fire protection for an offshore platform

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the platform is an unmanned platform with no permanent personnel.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the platform is an unmanned platform and has no provision of facilities for personnel to stay on the platform, for example there may be no shelters for personnel, no toilet facilities, no drinking water, no personnel operated communications equipment, no heli-deck and/or no lifeboat.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the platform is an unmanned platform and requires personnel to be present for fewer than 10,000 maintenance hours per year.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the evacuation route(s) make use of a Walk to Work system.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the evacuation route(s) include different routes from different locations on the platform to an escape point via the gangway or bridge and the method includes identifying multiple possible evacuation routes for the different locations for personnel on the platform in order to find the maximum evacuation time.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising arranging the platform to have a maximum evacuation time of 10 minutes or below, optionally about 7 minutes or below.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the maximum evacuation time is calculated based on assessing the nature of each part of the longest evacuation route, allocating a time required for a person to traverse each part of the evacuation route, and summing the times;

• and wherein the time required for a person to traverse each part of a route may be based on the length/distance for the route and on set speeds for different types of route based on evacuation of an injured person.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, including isolation of a hydrocarbon inventory on the platform during a fire.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the platform has five decks or fewer.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the vertical extent between the uppermost deck and the deck from which personnel may exit the platform is at most 40 m.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein all decks of the platform have a maximum length and/or width of less than 30 m.

A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the platform has no mechanism for depressurisation of its hydrocarbon inventory in the event of a fire and the equipment and piping on the platform is hence left at operating pressure in the event of a fire.