Innovation award for remote release hook

A remote release crane hook system designed to improve safety in the oil and gas industry has won an award from the business development agency that helped fund its development.

Hamilton Safety Enhanced (HSE) Tools, based in Aberdeen, Scotland, was this week named winner of the Sir Ian Wood Award for Innovation, run by Scottish Enterprise Grampian.

HSE Tools was incorporated in January 1999 to provide specialised safety related equipment, products and services to the oil and gas industries. Its Centralised Offset Lightweight Release System was developed in response to loading bay safety concerns among oil operators and contractors. The release system, which can operate with loads ranging in weight from 1t to 500t, ejects the load ring by radio remote control from up to 200m away, eliminating the need for workers to enter the danger zone. According to Offshore Crane Forum statistics, more than 80% of crane related accidents happen when the load is set down and workers come in to release the hook.

The location of the control mechanism and housing on the elongate support, means that the control unit takes no substantial part in bearing the weight of the load, allowing the control unit to be relatively small and up to six times lighter in weight than other solutions, making it easier to use.

HSE Tools received its first product development support from PGS Atlantic Power, and subsequently a product development grant and support from Scottish Enterprise Grampian, and recently attracted a UK government grant of £85,000 ($125,000) for the development of an intrinsically safe version of its system.

The prototype of HSE Tools’ system has been tested at Sparrow Offshore Services’ training centre in Aberdeen and the pre-production model was launched at the ONS 2000 show in Stavanger, Norway earlier this year. Four systems are currently in production at Power Jacks of Fraserburgh for the onshore market, one of which will undergo trials in Norway next month.

HSE Tools has signed a joint venture agreement with the Norwegian Handling & Safety Company to market the system in Norway. Demonstrations have been requested from 14 UK and Norwegian oil and gas contractors and HSE believes that there are market opportunities for sales or rental of the system within other industry sectors, including construction, harbour authorities, nuclear, petrochemicals, paper mills, military and shipbuilding. Export opportunities have also been identified in Australian, Canada and the USA.

HSE Tools has also developed a non-snagging, remote release crane hook (patent is pending) for use with the system. This is currently being subjected to a series of independent tests at the Health & Safety Laboratory, Sheffield.

HSE Tools founder and director Stewart Hamilton said: “By June 2001 we will have developed an intrinsically safe offshore system, which will be supplied to the Norwegian Sector and the UK Continental Shelf where there are more than 170 platforms each with two cranes that carry out supply boat loading and unloading and other lifting functions. There are also more than 40 semi-submersibles and varying numbers of FPSOs, all of which have lifting requirements.

“Our system will make a massive impact and contribution in terms of reducing the level of incidents and has attracted a high level of interest within the industry from the major oil operators and contractors.”