Testing for exposure to benzene: as multi-billion pound FPSO industry meets in London, AB Biomonitoring reports on key safety tools
“Safety is paramount. An FPSO vessel can hold up to 2 million barrels of oil at a time”
One of the oil and gas industry’s growing specialised sectors – the floating production, storage and offloading vessels market (FPSO) – holds its fourth annual conference in London on the 5th and 6th March. There are now nearly two hundred of these vessels across the globe, from the North Sea to the Gulf of Mexico, with the largest capable of storing 2.2 million barrels of oil, and costing over $800 million to build.
An FPSO is a floating vessel used by the offshore oil and gas industry for the processing of hydrocarbons and for storage of oil. The vessels are designed to receive hydrocarbons produced from nearby platforms or subsea template, process them, and store oil until it can be offloaded onto a tanker or transported through a pipeline. The number of FPSO projects doubled in 2012 from 2011.
One of the maritime industry’s experts on exposure monitoring, Dr Paul Aston, is speaking about benzene biomonitoring on FPSOs.
“The production, storage and transportation of dangerous substances require rigorous risk assessment procedures and compliance with health and safety regulations to safeguard the health of seafarers.” says Dr Aston. “It can be very expensive to regulate human exposures to some of the products of modern technology. Over regulation is wasteful, both in terms of finances and the loss of benefits from products. Under regulation could be costly in terms of health, welfare and productivity. Ideally, it is desirable to have tools which are able to predict the risk of developing disease so that physicians could intervene in a timely manner to prevent it.”
“Safety is paramount. An FPSO vessel can hold up to 2 million barrels of oil at a time, and biological monitoring - biomonitoring - is a growing scientific discipline being deployed to address these issues.” Dr Aston concludes.
Biological markers are new tools which, carefully used, provide accurate assessments of risk resulting from occupational and environmental exposures. In simple terms, a biomarker is a measurable component present in a worker after, for example, exposure to a chemical.
Dr Paul Aston is ideally positioned to share his knowledge and experience at the conference, as his laboratory, AB Biomonitoring, was the co-ordinator for the BIOMONECS (Biological Monitoring of Exposure to Carcinogenic Substances) project, which was supported by the European Commission under the Standardisation Measurement and Testing (SMT) programme.
Speaking at the same conference will be professionals from Petrobras, the largest company in the Southern Hemisphere, and GE Power.
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AB Biomonitoring are experts in workplace monitoring and risk assessments, to help safeguard companies and their employees from contact with harmful substances. They test for occupational exposure to benzene by analysing results from urine samples.
ABB’s unique rapid urine test for benzene is recognised and trusted around the world as an easy-to-use test that monitors employees for benzene exposure. They work with many of the North Sea oil rigs, for example. The test is used regularly by the maritime industry, health & safety practitioners and occupational hygienists in industrial settings including refineries, petrochemical plants and steel plants, and has served both to help safeguard the health of industry employees and to assist confirmation for the employer that best working practices in health and safety are deployed. As a result the test enables the wider application of benzene biomonitoring as both a monitoring and a survey tool of industrial and environmental exposures.
For more information, tel: +44 1491 574119 or email tellmemore@perfectlypicked.com
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