Oceanwide Safety at Sea is the world’s leading company in building and maintaining Self Propelled Hyperbaric Lifeboats (SPHL). The SPHL enables divers in a pressure chamber on board of a vessel or barge to be rescued from the diving system, in case a major incident necessitates the mother ship’s evacuation.

The lifeboat contains all ancillary equipment including engine, generator, crew facilities and life-support system, giving an independent survival capability of 72 hours. For a normal davit launched situation, the SPHL is equipped with two on-off-load lifting hooks, which are in stainless steel, conform the latest Solas rules and are so called “safe hooks”. For recovery and ease of handling a single point lifting arrangement is installed.

At the bow a reinforced towing point gives the possibility for the SPHL to be towed by a support vessel and alternatively for the SPHL to be towed onto the ramp of a recovery vessel.

Both towing and hoisting operations can be done from the steering dome without any dangerous operations outside of the SPHL. The SPHL’s are build according to MED/SOLAS and the IMO Resolution A.692 (17) “Guidelines and specifications for Hyperbaric Evacuation Systems” as well as NORSOK standard for “Manned Underwater Operations”.

Approvals are done by DNV and LRS. The SPHL’s are available in different sizes, up to 24 divers per SPHL. By the end of 2010, Oceanwide Safety at Sea has delivered over 30 systems to leading companies in the diving industry worldwide.