The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued an urgent safety notice warning oil, gas, and renewable energy operators to review offshore gangway systems or halt their use following incidents where motion compensated gangways retracted without warning.
The regulator said power failures and control errors have caused gangways to pull back suddenly, putting workers at risk of falling from height, being struck by moving parts, or sustaining fatal injuries.
Any gangway unable to give adequate warning before automatic retraction must be taken out of service until safety controls are installed, the HSE said.
“Despite a previous safety alert in 2024, and the publication of industry good practice, we have become aware that gangways that provide insufficient warning before auto-retraction are still being used,” said Howard Harte, operations manager for offshore regulation at the HSE.
“This safety notice addresses continuing incidents where gangway failures have resulted in unexpected retraction without adequate warning to operators or personnel crossing between platforms.”
The HSE is requiring dutyholders to carry out technical risk assessments of all automatic gangway functions and to ensure control systems only allow retraction when personnel are confirmed safe. The use of operators to manually override automatic retractions must also be subject to rigorous risk assessment.
Howard added: “A warning by definition is advanced notice that a potentially dangerous event is about to occur. Audible and/or visual alarms that are triggered at the same time the gangway retracts are not considered to provide adequate warning to enable workers to reach safety.”
Dutyholders must review gangway design, assess all operational states under which auto-retraction may occur, and confirm that systems will not retract when personnel are at risk.