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1. Recognising that some present domestic regulations do not refer specifically to Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs), the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) has adopted the following Standards for the design, construction and operation of new Canadian registered MODUs pursuant to paragraph 370(2)(a) of the Canada Shipping Act. Existing Canadian registered MODUs shall comply with these Standards to the extent considered reasonable and practicable by CCG.

2. The Standards have been based upon the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) Code for the Construction and Equipment of Mobile Offshore Drilling Units. A position has been defined for those areas in the IMO Code where the level of safety is delegated to the Flag Administration. Additional requirements have also been included in the Standards which have not been specifically addressed in the IMO Code. CW considers these Standards as an equivalent to the technical requirements of the international Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974 and the international Convention on Load Lines, 1966.

3. The Standards do not include requirements for the drilling of or the procedures for control of the subsea well. Notwithstanding that foreign drilling operations are subject to the control of the Coastal State, Canadian registered MODus should comply in general with the Canada Oil and Gas Lands Administration (COGLA) drilling equipment requirements. The drilling operations of both foreign and Canadian registered MODUs operating on Canada Lands shall be subject to the regulations administered by COGLA.

4. Recognising CCG's responsibility under the terms of the CCG/COGLA Memorandum of Understanding, all foreign registered MODUs operating on Canada Lands shall comply with these Standards as if they were Canadian registered units. (See section 3 of Part I).

Standards Respecting Mobile Offshore Drilling Units

Short Title

1. These Standards may be cited as the Mobile Offshore Drilling Units Standards.

Definitions

2. (1) In these Standards unless expressly provided otherwise the terms therein have the meanings defined in the following paragraphs:

" ‘A' Class division" means a division as defined in the Hull Construction Regulations;

"accommodation spaces" means those spaces used for public spaces, corridors, laboratories, cabins, offices, hospitals, cinemas, games and hobbies rooms, pantries containing no cooking appliances and similar spaces; public spaces are those portions of the accommodation which are used for halls, dining rooms, lounges and similar permanently enclosed spaces;

"approved" means approved by the Board or approved in such a manner as the Board may accept or direct;

"assigned working pressure" means the pressure at which the particular item of machinery is approved to operate and in no case shall the assigned working pressure exceed the design pressure;

"auxiliary steering system" means that equipment which is provided for effecting movement of the rudder for the purpose of steering the unit in the event of failure of the main steering gear;

" 'B' Class division" means a division as defined in the Hull Construction Regulations;

"Board" means the Board of Steamship Inspection;

"bottom founded unit" means a unit with the capability of lowering itself to and raising itself from the seabed or berm;

" 'C' Class division" means a division as defined in the Hull Construction Regulations;

"C.S.A." means the Canadian Standards Association;

"Canada Lands` means the territory and the offshore region North of 60 degrees, the East and West Coast offshore regions to the limits of the continental margin, and Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait;

"certificate" means Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Safety Certificate;

"certifying authority" means a testing laboratory or facility whose standards are recognised and accepted by the Board;

"certified safe" means that equipment has been certified safe for use in a particular hazardous atmosphere by a certifying authority;

"Chairman" means the Chairman of the Board of Steamship Inspection;

"Class I, Division l" is the CSA interpretation of Hazardous Zone 1 as defined in the IMO Modu Code;

"Class I, Division 2" is the CSA interpretation of Hazardous Zone 2 as defined in the IMO Modu Code;

"Coastal State" means the Government of the Country exercising administrative control over the drilling operations of the unit;

"column stabilized unit" is a unit with the main deck connected to the underwater hull or footings by columns or caissons;

"complement" means the number of persons the unit is certified to carry;

"control stations" means those stations from which main and emergency power, navigation, electronic communications, firefighting and machinery for propulsion, steering, positioning and essential ships services may be controlled or monitored;

"1974 SOLAS Convention" means the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea, 1974;

"dead ship condition" means the condition under which the main propulsion plant, boilers and auxiliaries are not in operation due to the absence of power;

"design pressure" means the maximum allowable working pressure to which the particular item of machinery may be subjected;

"diving system" means the plant and equipment necessary for the safe conduct of diving operations from a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit;

"emergency source of electrical power" means a source of electrical power intended to supply the emergency services in the event of failure of the main source of electrical power;

"emergency switchboard" means a switchboard which in the event of failure of the main source of electrical power is directly supplied by the emergency source of electrical power or the transitional source of emergency power and intended to distribute electrical energy to the emergency services;

"enclosed spaces" means spaces delineated by solid decks and bulkheads which may have doors and/or windows;

"explosion proof" or flame proof means that an enclosure is capable of withstanding without damage ad explosion of a specified gas or vapour which may occur and is capable of preventing the ignition of a specified gas or vapour surrounding the enclosure from sparks, flashes or explosion of the specified gas or vapour within the enclosure;

"F.M. " means Factory Mutual Research Corporation;

"factory sealed" means an explosion proof device which is so constructed that external seals are not required;

"freeboard" means the distance measured vertically downwards from the upper edge of the deck line to the upper edge of the related load line;

"gas-tight door" means a solid close fitting door designed to resist the passage of gas under normal atmospheric conditions;

"hazardous locations" means locations in which explosive accumulation of gases or mixtures of flammable substances may be present;

"increased safety apparatus" means apparatus designed beyond standard industrial norms to prevent, under normal working conditions, sparking or arcing and to avoid rises in temperature to dangerous levels by any part in contact with an explosive mixture;

"industrial-machinery and components" the machinery and components which are not used in connection with the marine operation;

"Inspector" means a Steamship Inspector appointed under the provisions of the Canada Shipping Act;

"intrinsically safe apparatus" means apparatus that is so constructed that when installed and operated under the conditions specified by the certifying authority, any electrical sparking that may occur in normal and fault conditions either in the apparatus or in the circuit associated therein, is incapable of causing an ignition of the prescribed flammable gas or vapour;

"intrinsically safe circuit" means a circuit in which any electrical sparking that may occur in normal and fault conditions specified by the certifying authority, and with the prescribed components, is incapable of causing an ignition of the prescribed flammable gas or vapour;

"length (L) " means 96 percent of the total length of a unit on its waterline at 85 percent of the least moulded depth measured from the top of the keel, or the length from the foreside of the stem to the axis of the rudder stock on the waterline, if that be greater; in units designed with a rake of keel the waterline on which this length is measured shall be parallel to the designed waterline;

"Letter of Compliance" means Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit Letter of Compliance;

"machinery" means boilers, main propulsion and ship service engines, unit positioning systems, gearing, shafting, propellers, steering systems, windlasses, pumps, compressors, pressure vessels, liquid, vapour and gas piping systems, control and monitoring systems, electrical and electronic equipment and all similar apparatus required for the operational safety of the ship and safety of life of personnel on board but excluding industrial equipment;

"machinery spaces of Category A" means all spaces which contain internal combustion type machinery and trunks to such spaces used either

  1. for main propulsion, or
  2. for other purposes where such machinery has in the aggregate a total power of not less than 375 kilowatts or which contain any oil-fired boiler or oil fuel unit;

"machinery spaces" means all machinery spaces of Category A and all other spaces containing propelling machinery, unit positioning systems, boilers and other fired processes, oil fuel units, steam and internal combustion engines, generators and major electrical machinery, oil filling stations, refrigerating, stabilizing, ventilation and air conditioning machinery and similar spaces and trunks to such spaces;

"main source of electrical power" means a source intended to supply electrical power for all services necessary for maintaining the unit in normal operational and habitable conditions;

"main steering gear" means the machinery, the steering gear power units, if any, and auxiliary equipment and the means of applying torque or thrust necessary for the purpose of steering the unit under normal service conditions;

"main switchboard" means a switchboard directly supplied by the main source of electrical power and intended to distribute electrical energy to the unit's services;

"maximum ahead service speed" means the greatest speed which the unit is designed to maintain in service at sea at its deepest seagoing draft;

"maximum astern speed" is the speed which it is estimated the unit can attain at the designed maximum astern power at its deepest seagoing draft;

"mobile offshore drilling unit" or "unit" means any vessel capable of engaging in drilling operations for the exploration for or exploitation of resources beneath the sea-bed;

"mode of operation" means a condition or manner in which a unit may operate or function while on location or in transit and include the following:

  1. "operating conditions" - conditions wherein a unit is on location for the purpose of conducting drilling operations where the combined environmental and operational loadings are within the appropriate design limits established for such operations,
  2. "severe storm conditions` conditions wherein a unit may be subjected to the most severe environmental loadings for which the unit is designed; drilling operations are assumed to have been discontinued due to the severity of the environmental loadings, and
  3. "transit conditions" conditions wherein a unit is moving from one geographical location to another;

"moon pool" means that area of the hull through which drilling operations are conducted;

"non-combustible material" means a material as defined in the Hull Construction Regulations;

"normal operational and habitable conditions" means

  1. conditions under which the unit as a whole, its machinery, services, means and aids of ensuring safe navigation when underway, safety when in the industrial mode, fire and flooding safety, internal and external communications and signals, means of escape and winches for lifeboats and other lifesaving apparatus as well as the minimum comfortable conditions of habitability are in working order and functioning normally, and
  2. conditions during drilling operations when the unit and all systems essential for the safety of the unit and the safety of life of personnel on board are in working order and functioning normally;

"operator" means an individual or company that seeks or has been granted approval pursuant to the Canada Oil and Gas Drilling Regulations to conduct a drilling program;

"owner" means the registered owner of the unit as defined in the Canada Shipping Act;

"portable unit" means a transferable prefabricated structure which is not a permanent part of the unit's structure;

"rescue boat" means an easily manoeuvred power boat capable of rapid launching and adequate for quick recovery of a man overboard and towing a liferaft away from immediate danger;

"self-elevating unit" means a unit with moveable legs capable of raising its hull above the surface of the sea;

"semi-enclosed locations" means locations where natural conditions of ventilation are notably different from those on open decks due to the presence of structures such as roofs, wind breaks and bulkheads and which are so arranged that dispersion of gas may not occur;

"service spaces" means those spaces used for galleys, pantries containing cooking appliances, lockers and store-rooms, workshops other than those forming part of the machinery spaces, and similar spaces and trunks to such spaces;

"stairtower" means an enclosure that provides continuous fire shelter for a stairway that penetrates more than one deck;

"steel or other equivalent material" means steel or any material which, by itself or due to insulation provided, has structural and fire integrity properties equivalent to steel;

"steering gear power unit" means, in the case of

  1. electric steering gear, an electric motor and its associated electrical equipment,
  2. electrohydraulic steering gear, an electric motor and its associated electrical equipment and connected pump, and
  3. other hydraulic gear, a driving engine and connected pump;

"surface unit" is a unit with a ship or barge-type displacement hull of single or multiple hull construction intended for operation in the floating condition;

"transitional source of emergency power" means a source of battery power intended to supply the emergency services for the half hour period between the loss of main power and the assumption of the emergency load by the emergency generator unless the emergency generation is arranged for automatic start-up in not more than 45 seconds;

"UL" means Underwriters' Laboratories;

"watertight" means designed and constructed to withstand a static head of water without any leakage;

"weathertight" means that water will.not penetrate into the unit in any sea condition;

"working spaces" means those open or enclosed spaces or portable units containing equipment and processes Associated with drilling operations which are not included in the definition of machinery spaces.

(2) The numerical units used in these Standards are as defined in the `Metric Practice Guide` published by the Canadian Standards Association and unless specifically stated, pressures prescribed are gauge pressures.

(3) Unless specifically defined in a particular Standard, all other words and expressions used in these Standards have the same meaning as in the Canada Shipping Act.

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Date modified:
2010-01-19