Emergency Response on Offshore Installations – ISO 15544
ISO 15544 specifies objectives, requirements, and guidelines for emergency response measures on offshore installations used in the development of hydrocarbon resources in the oil and gas industry.
To ensure safety and environmental protection during the recovery of hydrocarbon resources, a structured approach must be applied to identifying and assessing hazards throughout the entire lifecycle of an offshore installation. The same principles apply when developing emergency response strategy, emergency response measures and procedures.
Approach to Emergency Response Measures
The choice of emergency response measures is determined through a hazard assessment of the offshore installation. Methods and recommendations vary depending on the complexity of the process, the type of installation, the number of personnel on board, and the local environmental conditions. The standard applies to both fixed and floating installations used for production, storage, and offloading.
The main objectives of this standard are to describe both the approach to be applied and the key considerations when establishing the necessary emergency response measures on an offshore installation in order to:
- protect personnel
- minimize environmental impact
- minimize the impact on assets and operations.
Special Conditions Requiring Additional Preparedness
For mobile offshore units, emergency response plans usually follow the requirements and recommendations of the IMO (International Maritime Organization). These plans are generally sufficient for normal operations in most locations. However, IMO does not always cover the following topics, which are therefore included in this standard where relevant:
- preventive evacuation in areas potentially affected by tropical storms
- combined operations (where integrated command and emergency response systems are relevant)
- Arctic operations
- uncontrolled well flow.
Related Standards
The content of this standard regarding escape, refuge, evacuation, recovery, and rescue aligns with ISO 13702 Control and mitigation of fires and explosions on offshore production installations but provides more detail on how these aspects are integrated into the development of emergency response measures.
Understanding of the hazards can be achieved through ISO 17776, which provides guidelines for hazard identification and assessment for offshore installations. The standard is also aligned with ISO 35102 Escape, evacuation and rescue from offshore installations.
Changes from the Previous Edition
ISO 15544:2024 replaces the first edition from 2000. The key changes include:
- Clarification of requirements
- Editorial updates, including a merge of requirements and guidelines into one subclause for each clause
- Terms and definitions and abbreviations have been updated
- Several recommendations have been changed to requirements based on operational experience
- All appendices are all informative
- Annex G has been removed, and references are made.
The full name of the standard is NS-EN ISO 15544:2024 Oil and gas industries - Offshore production installations - Requirements and guidelines for emergency response.