AN INVESTIGATION OF THE ABILITY TO ADMINISTER CARDIO- PULMONARY RESUCITATION (CPR) AFLOAT Michael Tipton 1* , Geoff David 2 , C. Eglin 1 & F. Golden 1 1 Institute of Biomedical & Biomolecular Sciences, Dept. of Sport & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK. 2 Robens Centre for Health Ergonomics, EIHMS, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK. * Corresponding author: michael.tipton@port.ac.uk Introduction Current Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response regulations require operators of UK North Sea offshore oil and gas installations to produce plans which provide all personnel with a ‘good prospect of being recovered, rescued and taken to a place of safety’ following an incident. Increasingly, the recovery and rescue roles have been undertaken by Daughter Craft (DC), which are specialised fast rescue craft. Debate continues concerning whether a DC can be defined as a ‘place of safety’ and thus fulfil the regulatory safety requirements. The primary function of a DC is to provide close support and, in the event of an emergency, to assist in either the recovery of people from the water/survival craft, or in the evacuation of an offshore installation. Most DC are 9-12m in length with a cabin, and are supposed to be able to carry 12-15 persons. Oil industry guidelines 6 state that it should be possible to provide basic lifesaving first aid to casualties while a DC is on passage. This ability is likely to be related to a wide range of factors, including: sea state, speed and course of a DC (ship motion), design of the DC (ergonomic issues), number/condition of survivors, usefulness/usability of equipment available to assist, physical state and training/experience of rescuers. However, no data exist to help determine if DC crew are able to meet the demands and expectations placed upon them. The present investigation addressed this issue 5 , with particular reference to the feasibility of performing effective cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) whilst afloat. Methods The study was undertaken in the southern North Sea using the crew and facilities of Boston Putford Offshore Safety Limited. Ethical approval was obtained from the University of Portsmouth ethics committee. Nine DC crew volunteered for the study. Their average (SD) personal data were: age 31 (6) years of age; stature 181 (9)cm; mass 79 (14)kg; experience on a DC 9.8 (6) years. All crew had achieved at least basic, certified first aid training and were given additional refresher training in CPR immediately prior to participation in the study, using a Resusci-Annie (Laerdal, UK) ‘Skill Reporter’ resuscitation manikin. Both the respiratory component (expired air ventilation [EAV]) and cardiac component (external cardiac massage [ECM]) of CPR were examined. The compression:ventilation ratio was set at 15:2, with the requirement of an average ventilatory volume of 490mL and rate of 7 breaths per minute. The average depth of chest compression was required to be 45mm. The output of the manikin gave details of the ventilations performed (average volume; average number per minute; minute volume; total number; number correct; % correct; number that