G r a n t e c Engineering Consultants Inc. G E C I

Ocean Resources Magazine

“Offshore Structures Standards: Canadian initiatives accelerate toward ISO”

Author: Richard Grant

Date: October 2003

For information on this article contact:

Richard M. Grant, M.Eng., P.Eng. info@grantec.ca

Grantec Engineering Consultants Inc.

Hammonds Plains, Nova Scotia, Canada

www.grantec.ca

The following article is made available with the permission of

Ocean Resources Magazine Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

www.ocean-resources.com

As reported in the June 2003 edition of Ocean Resources("Offshore Structures Standards,The Road to Reliability" by Robin

England), initiatives to harmonize Canada’soffshore structures standards with the newstandards being developed under theInternational Standards Organization(ISO) are well underway. This comes as aresult of tremendous efforts under theumbrellas of the Standards Council ofCanada (SCC) and the CanadianStandards Association (CSA), with partici-pation from the various stakeholders(including industry, fabricators, consult-ants, academics, regulators, etc.).

In 2000, a Strategic SteeringCommittee on Onshore Structures(SSCOS) was established by CSA, withGreg Lever as the Chair, to assess the pathforward for Canada’s offshore structuresstandards. It had been recognized by thattime that the CSA standards were notbeing widely used for offshore projects inCanada, nor were they being effectivelymaintained and updated. It was also recog-nized, as a result of efforts of the CanadianAdvisory Committee (CAC) establishedunder the Standards Council of Canada(SCC) in 1997 with Graham Bagnell as theChair, that ISO had embarked on anaggressive program to develop interna-tional standards for offshore structures.

With the assistance and recommenda-tions from two Technical Committeesestablished under the SSCOS, and withcollaboration from the CAC, the preferredpath forward was deemed to be that ofISO. However, it was recognized that anupdate of the existing CSA offshore

Richard Grant, M.Eng., P.Eng, a Senior Analyst with CBCL Limited in Halifax, is a Member ofthe Executive Committee of the Strategic Steering Committee on Offshore Structures (SSCOS)and a Founding Member of the Canadian Advisory Committee (CAC) on Offshore Structures.In 2003, Grant was a recipient of the CSA Award of Merit for his leadership and guidance inthe advancement of both the CSA and ISO standards.

BY RICHARD GRANT

OffshoreStructuresStandards

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Canadian initiatives accelerate toward ISO

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structures standards was required as aninterim measure until the new ISO stan-dards are published (the majority of theISO structures standards are scheduled tobe published in 2005).

Considerable progress has been madesince the SSCOS was established. Thetwo Technical Committees were chargedwith the review and update of the existingCSA Offshore Structures Standards (S471through S475). This review and update isnow, for all intents and purposes, complete.

The updated S475 standard on Sea Operations was published earlierthis year, with the remainder of the CSAstandards (S471 through S474) to be published in early 2004. Areas where theCSA standards have been substantiallyupdated include: changes to load andresistance factors; new guidance on ice loading; concrete requirements; andnew guidance on fire and explosion controland mitigation.

In the area of fire and explosion safety,it was recognized that significant advance-ments were made within the North Seacommunity as a result of learnings from thePiper Alpha tragedy (1988). Guidancereflecting these advancements has beenincorporated into the updated CSA stan-dard, bringing Canadian guidance for off-shore fire and explosion safety in-line withthat of the North Sea. It is important tonote that a similar effort to advance safetyin the area of fire and explosion safety is inprogress in the United States through theAmerican Petroleum Institute (API). Effortsunder ISO are drawing upon the results ofthese various initiatives.

With efforts to update the CSA stan-dards nearing completion, it was recog-nized that Canada’s focus needed to shift toa higher level of participation in the devel-opment of the ISO standards. As such, inMarch of this year, an ISO HarmonizationWorkshop was held in St. John’s to helpmove the efforts forward and to develop a"roadmap" for the harmonization of theCanadian Standards with those of ISO.Primary outcomes from this workshopincluded: the acceptance of the proposal tomerge the CSA Technical Committeeswith the CAC; recommendations for thestructure of the new "merged" CAC; time-lines for implementation of the new CAC;leadership structure of the new CAC; andrecommendations on how to best influencethe ISO standards.

Many of the recommendations of theworkshop have now been implemented.The CSA Technical Committees have beenmerged with the new CAC. Ahmed Ewidaof Petro-Canada has been selected as the

Chair of this new CAC, with GrahamBagnell providing guidance as the Past-Chair. With this merger accomplished,Canada’s efforts will focus on influencingthe development of the new ISO stan-dards, with the intent to have themadopted as the National Standards ofCanada.

It is important to note that Canada hasbeen contributing to the development ofthe ISO offshore structures standards sincethe CAC was established in 1997. Both theCAC and CSA Technical Committees havebeen providing comments on the stan-dards, with many of the commentsreflected in the ISO standards. SeveralCanadian experts are participating directlyon ISO Working Groups and TechnicalCore Groups providing input directly intothe development of these standards. Aswell, Canada has taken the leadership roleas the convenor responsible for the devel-opment of the new ISO Arctic OffshoreStructure Standard. This opportunity wasrecognized and subsequently recom-mended to the SSCOS by Bagnell. Therecommendation was accepted by theSSCOS, a case was made to ISO and sub-sequently accepted in 2002. Canada is nowcharged with leading the development ofthis important ISO standard (due to bepublished in 2008).

Canada is indeed well on the way toISO. Additional information on the ISOOffshore Structures program is available atthe ISO website: http://sc7.tc67.net/.

ISO — International Standards Organization

SCC — Standards Council of Canada

CSA — Canadian Standards Association

SSCOS — Strategic Steering Committee on Onshore Structures

CAC — Canadian Advisory Committee

SCC — Standards Council of Canada

API — American Petroleum Institute

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