Some things don’t change–like the obligation to work safely

Pickers and boom trucks are an integral part of Western Canada’s oilfield, construction and manufacturing industries.

When it’s moving from Point A to Point B, it’s likely to be slung about by a picker or boom truck. Keeping your units maintained, inspected and certified ensures that when they get to site, they are permitted to operate and operate safely.

As the safety push moves more and more from the Calgary boardroom down to the lease, the legal requirement of having certification paperwork available is a necessity. Before your equipment is allowed onsite, you need to have things in order–because if you don’t, it may not be allowed to work until you do.

THE CAODC RP’s represent solutions to the unique challenges oilfield owner/operators face with their oilfield-specific lift equipment.

OHS safe-use legislation lays a clear burden on employers. They must ensure that the equipment provided to their employees is safe to use and used in a safe manner. That seems straight-forward enough: we’ll get a hold of the original equipment manufacturer’s specs and manuals and go from there. One problem: how do we maintain and operate all of this equipment safely when the OEM isn’t known or has gone out of business long, long ago? Parking perfectly serviceable equipment in the bush because its OEM is long gone is NOT a option. After the crash of the 80’s wiped out many of the manufacturers, the oilfield industry needed a new solution.

As the industry’s umbrella organization, the Canadian Association of Oilwell Drilling Contractors set out to create one. The result was the CAODC’s Recommended Practices (RP’S) . The nine active RP’s (with more in drafting, consultation, and provisional status) guide companies in maintaining, inspecting and certifying their equipment. We play an integral role in many companies’ certification processes.

Whether it is a service rig or drilling rig, rig overhead lifting equipment or tongs, we can inspect and certify oilfield equipment in accordance with the CAODC RPs. We do Level IV inspections and certification of entire units, as well as inspection and certification of repairs and minor modifications done between Level IV inspections. We can direct the entire certification operation, from tear-down, cleaning, mechanical inspection, repair, NDT inspection, re-assembly, and load testing to certification. We can also act as part of the operation directed by others, supplying inspection and/or certification or both. Whether your equipment is on 500-day, 1000-day, 3 year, or 6 year Level IV inspection and certification cycles, we can help. No matter the RP involves and the type of equipment, we have the personnel, the expertise and the experience to be a long-term partner in your oilfield equipment maintenance plans.

When you need CAODC inspection and certification, make us your first call.

Manlift operations expose workers to hazards by lifting them in the air. Every OH&S jurisdiction in which we operate has strict regulations regarding the construction, safe use, maintenance and certification of all types of manlift unit.

The construction, maintenance and inspection of manlift units in Canada is governed by the CSA‐B354 series of standards. These standards provide the OEM as great deal of leeway in regard to their recommendations and requirements for NDT inspection and engineering certification. However, many prime contractors insist on maintenance, inspection and certification requirements that exceed those typically set by the manufacturer and insist on at least yearly NDT inspection and certification. We can help! Whether you own a manlift or you are renting or leasing one, we have the personnel, the expertise and the tracking systems to help you determine and trace the structural inspection history of the units brought to your site.

New criteria regarding fall arrest protection for workers in manbaskets are being introduced. These criteria deal with the hazard of ejection from the basket during motion or collision. Investigations revealed that fully half of all fatalities involving manlifts resulted, not from the unit tipping over or collapsing, but from the personnel falling from the basket. Codes and requirements were updated requiring anchor points within the backet for fall protection equipment, and a requirement for personnel to be tied off within the basket so that they are unable to fall. Does your manbasket meet the new requirements?

Boom lifts, scissor lifts, bucket trucks, digger derricks or just plain manbaskets–it doesn’t matter. We can help you with your design, inspection and certification needs.

If it puts your personnel in the air, we can help you ensure that it meets code and operates safely!

What comes at the end of the hoist cable is just as important to inspect, maintain and certify as the crane and hoist itself!

Technically, engineers refer to these items as Below The Hook devices. They include such things as spreader bars, sheave assemblies, slings and cables. In oilfield rig work, they also include such things as elevators and bails. In a manufacturing environment, they include things like grapples, sheet lifters and coil lifters. In any lifting system with a rated capacity of 2000 kg or more, Section 89 from the Alberta OH&S Code Part 6 applies:

Non-destructive testing

Below The Hook devices are load-bearing components and fall under this regulation. We can inspect and certify your Below The Hook devices. We can work out a capacity for an existing device for which you have that you no longer have documentation. We can design and certify a device from scratch to meet your requirements. We can pull-test, inspect and certify various kinds of slings, hooks, and clevises. Whatever the device, chances are very good we can help you use it to lift the loads you require.

These kinds of devices also fall under Section 297 of the Alberta OHS code (and similar provincial codes) and must, by law, meet the requirements of ASME Standard B30.20-2006, Below the Hook Lifting Devices. That code mandates what information the user must have to operate the device, how the device is marked and identified, and a schedule for inspection and maintenance. We can help with your periodic and OEM/Engineer-mandated special inspections.

If your equipment sees sour service, both you and your clients want to see proof that it is NACE MR0175 compliant. If it isn’t compliant, it may not be long before H2S has destroyed it!

Wet H2S environments at ambient temperatures can do nasty, nasty things to the wrong kinds of steels and alloys. Microfracturing and intense corrosion of certain alloys was noted early in the history of the oilpatch. Rules-of-thumb about what NOT to use quickly evolved, but those did not address causes or systematic preventative measures. A history of NACE MR0175 can be found here. The Standard has its origins in the group efforts of Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin oilfield engineers who pooled their knowledge about successful sour gas handling, organized themselves as a NACE commitee and began issuing recommendations and documents as early as 1963.

Today, NACE MR0175/ISO 15156 is a standard evolved and maintained by the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) International. It deals with how to manufacture and maintain equipment in such a way that it has good resistance to sulfide stress cracking (SSC). API 6A deals with specifications for wellhead and Christmas tree equipment. Together, both specs lay out how to inspect maintain and certify equipment like flanges and drilling spools for use in wet sour service environments. We can test items for unacceptable materials, test for unacceptable hardness, and test for the presence of SSC and certify compliance. We can be part of a team that does everything already mentioned, and have the dimensional verification and pressure test for API 6A completed as part the whole certification operation.

When it comes to NACE MR0175/ API 6A certification, we can get it done!