A major investment in the Montrose Fire Training Centre, the world’s first offshore gas and oil fire training facility, will ensure the future of the site for fire safety training.
Owners Petrofac announced the GB pound 1.5 million investment in the 16-acre site in the northeast of England, which will see the construction of a new simulation suite, new IT facilities, and improved environmental standards.
The site has trained more than 100,000 people in offshore fire safety and firefighting since it opened in the 1970s, and Petrofac Training Services global director Gordon Caird said the investment signals a key move for “the future of safety training in the North East.” He continued:
It demonstrates the depth of our continued commitment to maintaining and improving safety standards while helping to develop a competent workforce for North Sea operations and indeed around the globe.
The training facilities are set to be hugely improved in an effort to keep ahead of developing technologies, and fire risks, on offshore gas and oil facilities.
Much of the work at the Montrose facility has been in response to the 1990 Cullen report into the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster where 167 men were killed in an explosion and fire aboard the rig. This year marks the 25th anniversary of the disaster, in which time many lessons have been learned about fire safety on aboard oil and gas platforms. Said Caird:
Many of the groundbreaking techniques and courses used and indeed piloted at Montrose arose from the recommendations of the Cullen Report. Today’s announcement reflects that safety needs continuously evolve and that new technologies are becoming the norm. We are investing in order to modernise, maintain and indeed go beyond existing standards.
The Deepwater Horizon spill, which began just over three years ago with an explosion on April 20, 2010, killed the comparatively smaller number of eleven people, signalling the major improvements that facilities such as Montrose have made to firefighting and disaster management.
However, the fire breaking out at all, and the subsequent failings in sealing the deep-sea leak, underline the importance of continued investment into safety and training facilities such as Montrose.
Montrose Fire Training Centre uses a ‘blended’ approach to learning, with hands-on training, classroom teaching, and experience with new technologies. This latest investment will ensure that the technology at the centre remains at the cutting edge, ensuring high fire safety standards in the North Sea and beyond.
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