When a client asks us for an offshore inspection, the first question is never about the camera. It is about the crew: “are your operators cleared to board?” Because the finest thermographer in the world, without a valid survival certificate, never reaches the platform.
The certifications that open the gate
- BOSIET (OPITO standard): basic offshore safety induction and emergency training. It covers induction, sea survival, firefighting and helicopter escape. Typically valid four years.
- HUET: helicopter underwater escape training, part of BOSIET, often required in the CA-EBS variant with compressed-air emergency breathing system.
- FOET: the refresher that keeps the BOSIET alive at expiry.
- OEUK medical fitness: the offshore medical examination, generally valid two years, without which no crew list is accepted.
- H2S awareness: mandatory wherever hydrogen sulphide may be present — sour service plants, refineries, certain fields.
- Site-specific inductions required by individual operators, plus valid visas for the country of operation.
Why this matters to the client, not just to us
A supplier whose certifications are in order is a supplier who can be mobilised. In practice this means:
- no dead time: no waiting weeks for a training course before the campaign can start;
- no rejections at the heliport: an expired document stops the operator at check-in and the inspection window is lost;
- lower contractual risk: the client's HSE department can audit the file and approve it without exceptions;
- real interchangeability: if an operator falls ill, another certified one can take their place.
Offshore, a certificate is not bureaucracy: it is the difference between a campaign that starts on Monday and one that slips to next quarter.
Competence is not only safety
Survival training says nothing about the quality of a thermogram. The two sets of credentials are independent and both necessary: safety certification to reach the plant, and ISO 9712 certification to interpret what the camera sees. A technician with only the former is a passenger; with only the latter, a consultant who never leaves the office.
Read about the operational side of the job in No compromises at sea, or ask us for the crew documentation before you plan your campaign.
