Piper Alpha heroes named for bravery awards

By sifting through more than 1000 statements in their computerised

files on the world's worst oil disaster, they have identified those

oilmen either on board the ill-fated platform or on one of the vessels

directly involved in the rescue operation who were most worthy of

recognition.

The request for nominations for bravery awards came from the EC

through the Scottish Secretary, Mr Malcolm Rifkind. Grampian Chief

Constable Mr Alistair Lynn said: ''A lot of brave acts came to our

notice and we felt we had to make it known to the Secretary of State.''

Mr Lynn was speaking at a preview of a presentation being compiled to

help pass on the experience gained from the Piper Alpha operation to

other police forces throughout the country.

The chief constable said that the cost of the Piper Alpha disaster,

including lost production, had been estimated at #2 billion. The cost to

Grampian Police had so far been more than #500,000. Through Grampian

Regional Council he had asked the Scottish Secretary for extra budget to

cover this and Mr Rifkind had indicated the Scottish Office would cover

the cost.

Instrumental in the inquiry was Holmes, the Home Office computer used

in the Yorkshire Ripper search, and which was being used for the first

time in a non-criminal case.

It was by cross-referring statements in Holmes that the names were

selected for the bravery awards. The same computer is now in use for the

Lockerbie inquiry.

There has been widespread interest in the way Grampian Police handled

the complex arrangements from the 600 calls an hour they received at the

peak of the incident to the grim task of removing 74 bodies from the

accommodation module raised three months after the explosion and fire.

The video presentation shows the difficult conditions the police

volunteers faced in removing the charred bodies from the module and how

the bodies were then taken to a makeshift mortuary at Aberdeen Airport

normally used to store snow-clearing equipment, where ''non-visual''

methods of identification were used to avoid distress to relatives.

Two warehouses and a yard at Peterhead were used to store wreckage of

the platform once it was recovered.

Mr Lynn said there were many problems in an incident of this scale,

including, for example, situations when the wife, girlfriend, and

parents of a victim each requested the return of his remains.

Emergency exercises were often held with oil companies but since Piper

Alpha the demand for those had increased, enforcing a temporary increase

of the oil liaison department.

As well as coping with the disaster inquiry, extra policing had been

required for the visits of members of the royal family and of the Prime

Minister and other Cabinet Ministers within 48 hours of the incident.

Logistical problems had arisen which could never fully be overcome and

were now the subject of internal reviews.

Mr Lynn finally paid tribute to his officers for the way they handled

the inquiry.