By Vilde Fagerland

During a mild summer day in June 2021, the life of an offshore worker, who suffered cardiac arrest and was clinically dead for several minutes, was saved by his colleagues on Ekofisk 2/4 J offshore platform. 

Three contractors were performing inspection on the platform. A grating had been removed and scaffold set up from the deck below to access the inspection area. The job completed, Tord Magnus Kvanvik and Steffen Jakobsen began walking away. Soon they noticed their colleague wasn’t following. Returning to the work area, they found him lying unconscious, on a scaffolding two meters below deck level. 

Tord Magnus climbed down and quickly initiated CPR, while Steffen placed the emergency call. Nearby, a team of rope-access workers noticed the urgent situation. One of them, Rope Access Security Supervisor Christer Amundsen, was a registered nurse, with acute medical experience. 

“I noticed the emergency occurring just a few meters away,” Christer said. “The patient had lapsed into cardiac arrest and was lying unconscious in a rather complicated area below the fixed deck. Luckily, our team works with ropes and climbing.” 

When the medical team and the search and rescue (SAR) nurse arrived, they prepared the emergency equipment and started using the defibrillator. 

After two shocks from the defibrillator and an injection of lifesaving medication, the patient returned to a normal heartbeat, slowly regaining consciousness. He was lifted to the main deck, using a pulley created on the spot by Christer’s rope-access team, and transported directly to Stavanger University Hospital onshore to receive further treatment.

Just a few hours later, he called his colleagues at Ekofisk from the hospital to thank them for responding so rapidly to save his life. 

“This man clearly had several guardian angels by his side,” Christer said. “Afterwards, we talked through the situation many times, which I believe is very important. For people, who aren’t medically trained, it can be very scary and overwhelming. While life-threatening events are always dramatic, in this case, it involved a teammate, which made it even more traumatic. I was impressed by the swift, professional handling of the situation and for all the support we received afterwards.” 

Health and safety offshore Norway

The southern part of the North Sea is known as one of the safest places to be in the event of sickness or injury. A robust emergency response and preparedness organization, including medical personnel and search and rescue services, is available in the Greater Ekofisk Area. The search and rescue service is part of the Southern Field Alliance, and has a duty to assist in rescue efforts in the event of incidents among other allied parties. The hospital on Ekofisk 2/4 L has three nurses, who manage all health-related tasks, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All other stand-alone installations have nurses on board, who perform advanced examinations and tests offshore. Two search and rescue crews on Ekofisk 2/4 L, consisting of one nurse, one rescue person, one rescue winch operator and two pilots, have access to their own SAR helicopter. They are always ready to mobilize in case of an emergency.