A full-scale unmanned rescue boat is being built and tested to pluck workers from the freezing North Sea without putting a human crew at risk. Offshore wind farms are moving further from shore—average distance to those under construction jumped from 35km in 2018 to 59km in 2019—and will keep moving. In North Sea waters averaging 10.5°C, an unprotected casualty has less than 30 minutes before losing consciousness. Current search-and-rescue services struggle to reach remote sites quickly, and sending human rescuers into the same hazardous conditions puts more lives at risk. Safety Net Phase II will design, build, and test a full-scale prototype Unmanned Rescue Vessel (URV) with low-latency communications for over-the-horizon remote control. If successful, the system could cut emergency response times for offshore wind, oil and gas, and commercial shipping operations while keeping rescuers safely onshore. The project brings together a naval architect, a remote operations firm, a test facility, and an end-user wind farm operator to move from concept to working prototype. This is an applied technology development project with a clear practical goal: saving lives at sea through remote operations.
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**Challenge** Health & Safety (H&S) for offshore workers is paramount for the continuing development of the blue economy. Never have more people worked offshore, due to the continued development of offshore wind (OW), Oil & Gas (O&G) decommissioning and commercial shipping. The marine environment is harsh and unforgiving. OW projects are moving further from shore where wind speeds and wave heights increase. Saving lives at sea is time critical, North Sea temperatures average 10.5°C where unprotected casualties have less than 30 minutes before they are likely to fall unconscious. Average distance to shore of OW farms under construction in 2019 was 59km, up from 35km in 2018\. This will increase over the next decade requiring operators to rethink Search and Rescue (SAR) provision. **Innovation** OSS are developing the world's first remotely operated SAR service, known as Safety Net, for Offshore Wind (OW) farms and the wider blue economy in partnership with Chartwell Marine (naval architect), Ocean Infinity (remote operations), ORE Catapult (test and demonstration) and Orsted (end-user). The service reduces emergency response times to incidents at sea, whilst keeping rescuers out of harm's way. **Objective** Safety Net Phase II is the continuation of an iUK funded project ending in June 2021; Safety Net: Unmanned SAR (Phase I), which is developing an Unmanned Rescue Vessel (URV) concept. This follow-on technology development project aims to design, build and test a full-scale prototype URV along with low latency communications for over the horizon remote operations capability.
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