Temporary refuge

Platforms will always have a designated Temporary Refuge (TR) area which serves as a muster point in the event of an emergency. The TR will be protected against fire, blast, and smoke ingress, and will be provided with means of communicating with the rescue and support services. In many cases, the facility s Living Quarters are also the primary TR. 

The escape routes should direct personnel to the primary temporary refuge (TR), with alternate routes to the lifeboat embarkation points. 

Temporary Refuge Impairment Criteria (Group risk)... 

Although there is no specific requirement to estimate group risk, the assessment principles for offshore safety cases, HSE (2006a), indicates a need for a safety case to demonstrate temporary refuge (TR) integrity -this could be considered as a measure of societal risk. 

Belt. An enclosed compartment, pressurized (closed bell) or unpressurized (open bell), which allows the diver to be transported to and from the underwater work area and which may be used as a temporary refuge during diving operations. 

For example, the designers of an offshore platform have to decide on the length of time that the temporary refuge will survive in the event of an explosion followed by a continuous fire. If the design team settles on a time period of say 30 minutes, then they have implicitly made a decision as to the level of acceptable risk. 

The Emergency Control Center (ECC) will often be located in the same general area as the Temporary Refuge. The Center should provide emergency response personnel who are capable of operating the control systems that are critical to the safety of the facility. 

Each person moves to his or her muster station located in the Temporary Refuge (TR) ... 

There should always be at least two muster points, ideally at different ends of the platform or rig. For example, on a ship or barge, the primary TR is the living quarters located in the superstructure at the stem of the vessel. However if there is a fire in the midship and someone is in the bow area he or she will not be able to reach the stem of the vessel, so there needs to be second temporary refuge at the bow. 

Today, all North Sea oil platforms have a Temporary Refuge - i.e a designated enclosed area of the platform, which shonld be secure from smoke and should have a minimum assessed time of hre resistance. In the event of an emergency, all personnel muster in the Temporary Refnge and await farther instructions. 

In the case of offshore facilities, the smallest fire that could restrict access to the temporary refuge (TR). 

Crammed into a three-room shotgun house that usually accommodated three people, the six Wilsons doubled up in bed, with John and little Onshell sleeping head-to-toe on a cot in the kitchen. It could only be a temporary refuge, of course, and the Wilsons were soon looking for other shelter. They found a roof a few miles away in Baton Rouge, at the home of a schoolteacher (a distant cousin) and her husband. 

Demonstrate that all reasonably practicable steps have been taken to ensure the safety of employees in the event of an emergency and during their transit to a place of safety. It should be demonstrated in particular that the integrity of the temporary refuge (TR), escape, and evacuation routes are maintained in the case of a major accident event, and that all reasonably practicable steps have been taken to ensure the safety of employees in the event of an emergency and during transit to a place of safety. 

When an emergency is declared, all workers must move in an orderly manner to their muster station, which is also a temporary refuge (TR). If the emergency escalates, the woricers will be instructed to move from their muster station to the lifeboats, or other means of escape. GeneraUy, workers will muster in the gaUey or similar location in the LQ. The reason for this is that many of the persons on board will be in the LQ, either eating or resting. 

The routes from the temporary refuge to lifeboat embarkation points should be clearly marked and well protected. 

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