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§ 21 Competence

The responsible party shall ensure that the personnel at all times have the competence necessary to carry out the activities in accordance with the health, safety and environment legislation. In addition, the personnel shall be able to handle hazard and accident situations, cf. Section 14 of the Management Regulations and Section 23 of these regulations.
Personnel who will lead or carry out bell diving or surface-oriented diving, shall have a valid certificate. The Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority appoints suitable enterprises to train personnel and suitable enterprises to issue certificates on its behalf. Payment can be charged for issuance of certificates.
Section last changed: 01 January 2023

There are also requirements to qualifications and training in the field of working environment in Regulations relating to conduct of work (in Norwegian only). They relate to
  1. work with chemicals, cf. those regulations chapter 3, except for sections 3-23, 3-24 and 3-27,
  2. work with asbestos, cf. those regulations chapter 4, except for section 4-4,
  3. work involving risk of being exposed to biological factors, cf. those regulations chapter 6,
  4. work with work equipment that requires additional carefulness, cf. RCW chapter 10,
  5. maintenance of work equipment, cf. those regulations chapter 12,
  6. work involving risk of being exposed to health detrimental noise or mechanical vibrations, cf. those regulations chapter 14, except for sections 14-1 – 14-7 included, and section 14-10,
  7. work involving risk of being exposed to artificial optic radiation, cf. those regulations chapter 16,
  8. safety signs and signalling, cf. those regulations chapter 22,
  9. work imposing ergonomic strain, cf. those regulations chapter 23.
The requirement relating to ensuring competence implies, inter alia, that requirements are set for the necessary competence, that the competence is verified, and that it is maintained through practice, exercises, training and education.
In order to fulfil the requirement for competence in the area of health, safety and working environment,
  1. Chapter 6 of the NORSOK U-100N standard should be used for manned underwater operations,
  2. Chapter 8 of the ISO 15544 standard should be used for emergency preparedness and safety, with the following addition: the Norwegian Oil and Gas’ guidelines for safety and emergency preparedness training No. 002 should be used for safety and emergency preparedness training for personnel on facilities and vessels,
  3. Chapter 5.9 of the NORSOK D-010 standard and 024 - Norwegian Oil and Gas’ Guidelines no. 024 should be used for general competence within drilling and well activities, with the exception of Chapter 2.1.1 litera a and b on the requirements for examination. For posts as operators, training and examination in accordance with public curriculum VG2 well techniques should be undertaken. In addition, IOGP's guideline 476 on well control competence should be used. For pressure-balanced operations in wells Chapter 14 and Annex B of the NORSOK D-010 standard should also be used,
  4. the following regulations and guidelines should be used for electrical installations:
  1. for personnel on facilities, the Regulations relating to electrical enterprises and qualification requirements for work associated with electrical installations and electrical equipment (in Norwegian only) Sections 6, 7, 8, 9 and 17 or Norwegian oil and gas’ guideline 059 – recommended guidelines for professional electrical workers’ competence (in Norwegian only). Alternatively, relevant professional certificates combined with Regulations relating to qualification requirements and certificates for seamen (in Norwegian only) Sections 37, 44 and 45 can be used,
  2. for the designated person responsible for the electrical installations as mentioned in Section 91, the Regulations relating to electrical enterprises and qualification requirements for work associated with electrical installations and electrical equipment (in Norwegian only) Sections 7 and 17.
Personnel operating the electrical installations, should have competence with respect to the electrical systems on board with associated control systems. The competence can be adapted to the duties of the personnel.
  1. Appendix 3 to the Civil Aviation Authority's Regulations relating to flight weather service (in Norwegian only) should be used for weather observers who carry out routine weather observations (METAR),
  2. the Norwegian Maritime Authority’s Regulations relating to qualification requirements and certificates for seamen (in Norwegian only) should be used for maritime operations,
    1. the party responsible for operating the maritime systems on permanently placed, mobile facilities, should fulfil the qualification requirements for comparable positions in the regulations mentioned in litera g of these guidelines. Control room operators who operate maritime systems on such permanently placed, mobile facilities, should fulfil the requirements related to certificates for control room operators in the same regulations. The party responsible for stability on board, should have maritime competence equivalent to the offshore installation manager in the same regulations,
    2. in the event of operations with dynamic positioning Equipment Classes 2 and 3, those operating the equipment, should have competence in accordance with the regulations as mentioned in litera g of these guidelines, cf. Section 31. For operations in Equipment Class 1, one competent person is sufficient,
    3. for facilities registered in a national ships' register, it is also assumed that maritime competence is documented in accordance with the requirements stipulated by the respective flag state authorities. The requirement in first subsection second sentence implies that jack-up facilities are staffed with personnel competent at and trained in operating the jacking systems in an emergency,
  3. in connection with the use of communication equipment, it should be ensured that the person responsible for communication, cf. Section 80, second subsection, has sufficient experience as communications operator and valid GMDSS radio operator certificate (GOC or ROC depending on radio transmitting equipment on board), as well as necessary competence in areas such as emergency preparedness management, helicopter communication, meteorological observation and monitoring of the safety zones and maritime zones surrounding the facility.
  4. 074 – Norwegian oil and gas’ Recommended guidelines for helideck personnel should be used for qualifications for and training of helideck personnel,
  5. 105 – Norwegian Oil and Gas Association’s Recommended guidelines for scaffolding building should be used for work with and on scaffolding,
  6. the standard NS 9600 should be used for rope access, except for requirements for certification of businesses and personnel.
For material handling and lifting operations, the training plans are published on the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority’s and the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority’s web pages.
As regards radio operators who operate maritime radio equipment, the competence requirements are specified in the licence terms set by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.
As regards certificates as mentioned in the second subsection, diving certificates issued by authorities in other countries are accepted if they document that the level of education corresponds with that which is recognised by Norwegian authorities. The reference used by the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority, is the ”Diving Industry Personnel Competence Standards”, issued by the European Diving Technology Committee (EDTC) in cooperation with the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA).