3306 The physical demands of sea survival training

Overview:

Personnel flying offshore have to undertake sea survival training with a recognised provider. This report describes a research study to consider the physical demands of this training and the success rate of those completing it.

The research study was undertaken in two parts. The first part comprised a review of the sea survival training undertaken internationally with the aims of identifying the most physically demanding tasks associated with sea survival training and the pass/fail rates on such courses. The second part quantified the physical demands of the key essential tasks of sea survival training. These are:

• entering a liferaft; 
• towing a casualty; 
• helicopter underwater escape training (HUET), and
• EBS training.

The observations on each of the essential tasks are presented and conclusions drawn in respect of adequate training.

This publication will be of interest to training providers and international oil and gas operating companies sending personnel to offshore assets.