IMCA Newsroom

Press Release 06/05

NEW TECHNICAL ADVISER FOR IMCA

Nicholas Hough has joined IMCA - the International Marine Contractors Association - as a Technical Adviser from WesternGeco, a market-leading seismic survey joint venture owned by Schlumberger and Baker Hughes, where he had for over ten years been a chief observer or senior data acquisition specialist.

"We are delighted to welcome Nicholas to our team," says IMCA Chief Executive, Hugh Williams. "Initially his role focuses on bringing his recent field experience, high awareness of practical quality and safety matters, and strong presentation skills, to many aspects of our work, especially the Safety, Environment & Legislation (SEL) and Training, Certification & Personnel Competence (TCPC) Committees."

Nicholas Hough has seventeen years' experience at sea in marine seismic survey, having started in 1988 with Seismograph Service Ltd (SSL). Before working for SSL, he took a degree in Physics and Geology and also spent a year studying electronic engineering.

He has worked in the North Sea, West Africa, the Caspian Sea, the Far East, and, most recently, Latin America and the Gulf of Mexico on some 13 different vessels; and has spent several years working in a Russian maritime environment with crews from the former Soviet Union.

"His varied oilfield experience, including DP-based seabed seismic surveys in the North Sea and offshore Louisiana, and complex towed multi-streamer seismic surveys in many challenging locations throughout the world certainly give him an understanding of the work undertaken by many of our member companies, and the issues they face, " says Hugh Williams.

Notes to Editors (common)

• IMCA is an international association with over 450 members in more than 50 countries, representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Americas Deepwater, Asia-Pacific, Europe & Africa and Middle East & India regions, as well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training. IMCA seeks to promote its members' common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
• IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports. These have been developed over the years and are widely distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving and ROV codes of practice, DP documentation, marine good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document, safety recommendation, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and safety flashes.
• Judith Patten is here to help you if you want any additional information on IMCA; would like to discuss a feature article; want to organise interviews with key members of the IMCA team, etc.