Hey guys,

I hope everyone is OK and all is well?

I've been away in the middle of nowhere on an Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training (BOSIET) program as its likely I will have to go and work on the drilling rigs at some stage. I thought I would share some of the highlights of my trip... in all I had a great time and learnt some great skills such as CPR, Escaping from smoke filled buildings, Fire fighting, Using a EBS, health and safety, Sea survial and rescue.

One of the big higlights of the training has to be the helicopter underwater escape - basically your strapped tight in a simulator whilst it "crashes" and capsizes in the "sea". I have to be honest as someone who can't swim - it was one of toughest things I have had to do in my life. But the training guys were great and I managed to survive to tell the tale.


You have to stay strapped in the chair whilst the copter sinks and escape unassisted underwater to pass the test. Without the BOSIET no company will let you any where near its oil rigs so this is a big requirement. You can't cheat either and bomb out to early as the heli blades take something like 5 seconds to stop in real life so you have stay seated and allow for this or your bantha foddar! I was really surprised how effective the training was and how assesing you escaping route first and using your closest hand to mark your exit does stop you from being disorientated especially when you get dumped upside down.

With your exit hand marking you window of escape, you use you other hand to do all the prep work such as settting up the EBS, peeling the window seals so they can be popped, popping the escape window underwater and finally pressing the release button (last thing you do) before the adrelene takes to the surface like a wippet.

Here's a clip of a typical escape:

Good to have you back Craig. Sounds like you had some fun while you were on training. I watched the video and thought they were just going to drop that thing at first. I can just image what its like when it flips over.

Looks like fun. Sorta. I'm terrified of water. So looks like a little bit of hell to me. Maybe something like that would help me out though.

Craig T wrote:

. I have to be honest as someone who can't swim - it was one of toughest things I have had to do in my life.

You can't swim & you did that- I'm well impressed.

Cheers Chris... Nice to be back in one piece too! The training was awesome in fairness, but being dumped upside down wasn’t pleasant. Looking back though, getting outta of the helicopter was a piece of piss compared to trying to pull you self into a life raft. I got cramp in both legs after being in the pool so long and I couldn’t get in for ages. I am going to start going to the gym as I didn’t release how little upper body strength I have.

Paul: If you get you BOSIET, this is your passport to getting work on the rigs. I not an expert but from what I heard from some of the lads who were on the course, the pay is very good even for a roustabout (entry level guy). I was even thinking: Why did I get in to so much student debt in Uni when there were jobs like these offshore? The rigs are highly health and safety conscious these days but If something does go wrong then you only have to look at the Gulf of Mexico to see the consequences which is why the pay is so good.

AJ: Cheers mate. There are underwater divers watching you the whole time which does help a little when you’re terrified of being trapped. If you can’t swim they make you where a RED hat so it is easier to keep an eye on you (there a non swimmer wearing his hat walking in the camera shot on the video). Once I cleared the HEUT and got to the surface the diver just literally grabbed me by the scruff of my suit and took me to the pool side so I could panic there LOL. In real life you would pull the cord of your life jacket when you escaped but because we had to repeat the dumps a number of time we didn’t set them off until the last exercise.

Hey Craigy good to hear from you mate, glad you're still alive too after having the intensive training I'm also a non-swimmer (brilliant at sinking lol) so you've got to have iron Jacobs to try something like that! I think those guys were submerged for about 25 seconds or so when that capsule flipped over! Fair play mate. A friend of mine used to work on the rigs some years back - we wouldn't see him for a few weeks then he'd get a few weeks off onshore then back again, he said the pay was really good too.