Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Installations Regulations (SOR/95-191)

19. On every manned installation,

• (a) every work area shall have at least two well-marked separate escape routes that are situated as far apart as is practicable;

• (b) all escape routes shall lead to the open deck and from there to an evacuation station;

• (c) in addition to the escape routes required by paragraph (a), clear passage shall be provided, where practicable, to the helicopter deck and sea level and other embarkation locations;

• (d) all corridors that are more than 5 m long, all accommodation areas and, where practicable, all work areas shall have at least two exits, located as far apart as is practicable, that lead to escape routes;

• (e) every escape route and embarkation station shall be free of all obstructions, and each exit door along the route shall be a sliding door or designed to open outwards;

• (f) every escape route leading to an upper level shall, where practicable, be provided in the form of ramps or stairways;

• (g) every escape route leading to a lower level shall, where practicable, be provided in the form of ramps, stairways or chutes of sufficient width to accommodate stretcher bearers with stretchers;

• (h) suitable means shall be provided, where practicable, for persons to descend from the installation to the water;

• (i) materials used for escape routes shall have a level of fire durability equivalent to steel;

• (j) the survival craft evacuation stations located adjacent to the accommodation areas and the associated escape routes from the accommodation areas shall provide fire protection for a period of at least two hours; and

• (k) all escape routes and associated stairwells shall be appropriately sheltered from the effects of fire and explosion.

• 20. (1) Subject to subsection (4), every platform shall be designed to withstand accidental impacts with a vessel.

• (2) Where practicable, every platform shall have a fender system, buoyage system or similar arrangement that will permit the transfer of goods to and from the production installation and a vessel without endangering that production installation or vessel or any person or goods.

• (3) Subject to subsection (4), every platform, including any fender system, shall be capable of absorbing the impact energy of not less than 4 MJ from a vessel without endangering any person or the environment.

• (4) Subsections (1) and (3) do not apply to an unmanned platform if any impact described by those subsections will not cause major damage.

• (5) Every platform shall be designed so that the impact energy referred to in subsection (3)

  • (a) can be totally absorbed in the permanent deformation of the structural element impacted and by the elastic deflection of the platform; and

  • (b) will not be absorbed in the permanent deformation of the vessel.

• (6) Where a fender system is used to comply with subsection (2), its size and arrangement shall be such that a vessel cannot be trapped under it at low tide.

21. Every installation shall be equipped with the navigation lights and sound signal systems that are required by

• (a) in the case of a mobile platform, the Collision Regulations, as if the installation were a Canadian vessel; or

• (b) in the case of a fixed platform, sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Navigable Waters Works Regulations, as if the installation were in waters to which those Regulations apply.