Many offshore navigation lighting faults could be avoided with a more preventative approach, according to a newly appointed specialist at Aberdeen-based Wellhead Electrical Supplies.
Brad Scarrott, who has joined the company as its Aids to Navigation specialist with nearly 25 years of experience in the field, says too many lighting faults are dealt with only once they become urgent, when the cost and disruption are at their highest.
Aids to Navigation systems mark offshore structures for passing vessels and are safety-critical. Operators are expected to keep them available, reliable and compliant, with performance overseen by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), which inspects installations and can take enforcement action where systems fall short. In Scarrott's experience, compliance questions most often surface in the wake of an inspection, by which point the operator is reacting rather than planning.
He believes much of that pressure is avoidable. His message to operators is straightforward: maintain systems properly and routinely, rather than waiting for a fault to force the issue.
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Scarrott said: "Navigation lighting is easy to take for granted until it stops working, but it is a safety-critical system, and the regulator treats it as one. The operators who stay on the right side of compliance are almost always the ones who maintain their systems well, rather than scrambling when a fault appears or an inspection flags something.
"Preventative maintenance is the single biggest thing more operators could do. It costs far less to look after a system properly than to react once it has failed, particularly offshore, where access is limited and every intervention is expensive."
That same principle, he adds, applies to the change facing operators still running older incandescent navigation lighting. From January 2027, manufacturer Orga will no longer supply or support incandescent lighting, meaning a failed fitting will not be replaceable like for like. Scarrott is encouraging operators to identify affected systems and plan the move to LED in good time.
"It is the same lesson," he said. "Plan the change on your own terms, and it is straightforward. Leave it until something fails, and it becomes a scramble. The operators who get ahead of it will always be in a better position."
Wellhead Electrical Supplies, which has worked in partnership with Orga for more than 30 years, supplies hazardous area electrical equipment to offshore operators across the North Sea and internationally, supporting aids to navigation, helideck lighting and communications systems for use in hazardous areas.