Reporter experiences offshore disaster at Falck Safety Services, near Billingham

IT is a scene of utter disaster.

THE North Sea's raging waters relentlessly lash the turbine, it's freezing tentacles clawing and grabbing at the dominating structure.

Inside, the danger has escalated to devastating levels.

A worker lies critically injured after falling hundreds of feet down the tower.

Just yards away, the crew of a stricken helicopter are desperately scrambling for safety through holes that were once windows, as their craft falls prey to the deep and merciless waters.

As they plot their escape, wind turbine workers are negotiating tiny confined areas, armed with a stretcher and winch, as they rush to the aid of a fellow engineer.

The nightmare seems endless, but then, as quickly as it started, it suddenly stops.

Casualties pull themselves from the water, the injured offshore worker shows no ailments.

This isn't the North Sea, and the drama isn't real.

It is all simulation.

IT’S ALL SIMULATION: Laura Hudson coaches Steven in a rescue technique in a confined space

The backdrop to this industrial role play is Falck's base on Haverton Hill industrial estate, in Billingham, near Stockton.

Far from the sea, and in bright sunshine, the firm's training centre is using a specialist structure to mock a wind turbine and an indoor pool to house its training aircraft.

The firm puts about 15,000 people through their paces every year, from offshore survival and helicopter underwater escape, to fire safety and operation of giant cranes.

OFFSHORE SURVIVAL: Trainees must learn to cope with emergencies in many different scenarios

My day is spent with the confined space rescue team, made up of senior instructor, Jon Battye, and fellow instructor, Laura Hudson, and we work a team of four offshore engineers on the turbine.

After changing into a boiler suit and running through important gas check tests, we move into the turbine, which replicates exactly what the inside of a tower looks like.

The scene is simple.

A worker, his place taken by a foam dummy for the day, is at the bottom of the turbine, with serious injuries from the earlier fall.

We are tasked with tending to the casualty, given a stretcher and winch, and then charged with carrying out a vertical lift.

Operating the winch with senior instructor Jon Battye

As the dummy has fallen into the turbine's base, we have to safely climb down to his level, manoeuvring it into position ready for extraction.

The turbine's circular base is large enough to easily negotiate, but Jon and Laura are quick to point out mistakes over moving the casualty too quickly or in the wrong place, which could exacerbate existing injuries.

After lifting him into the stretcher, another team member begins the gentle winching.

However, the hatch carries too little capacity for the stretcher to pass through with the dummy laid flat on its back.

So we are shown how to manipulate the equipment to shift the casualty into an upright position, continuing to keep their head still and supported, and their body securely fastened in the stretcher.

Moments later, and after a few more turns of the winch, the bright orange stretcher appears from the dark recesses of the turbine, its passenger fully strapped in and now ready to receive further medical attention.

The mock rescue may have given an insight into the dangers of the offshore industry, and delivered ways to combat such incidents, but Jon and Laura, who, between them have 20 years experience, are keen for us to learn more.

The premise is a clear one.

Jon tells us that if you know the feeling of being a casualty, you are far more likely to understand those needs if you are faced with a real medical emergency.

Lying on my back, the same orange stretcher is now mine for company, and I ready myself to be placed into the flexible plastic device.

Staying still to replicate a casualty, the team put me in the recovery position before lifting and rolling my body so the stretcher is under my back and legs.

A flurry of straps are thrown across me, my arms pulled tight into my body and my feet secured together as the stretcher envelopes me like a cocoon.

I'm going nowhere and feel fine, even if my confined pose mirrors that of Silence of the Lambs' serial killer, Hannibal Lector.

However, since this is the confined space unit, carrying me on my back is only one part of the programme, and after a brief warning, I'm catapulted forward into an upright position, ready for a vertical lift.

NEW ANGLE: Steven in the upright position, ready for a vertical lift

The action of being thrust forward may sound dangerous, but it is perfectly safe, the strapping means I move not an inch, and validates our instructors' point of empathising with a casualty.

I now know feel what its like to be rescued, and, if I ever found myself in the opposite position, I would have a very real idea of the processes needed to keep the person safe.

The last objective takes us back outside and into the turbine, though this time the space is reduced even further.

Feeding into the tower's base is a small metal tunnel, totally devoid of light.

After clambering through its entry hatch, the stretcher and dummy are re-united again, with workers told to navigate the pair through tight right angle turns in darkness.

The team, now wearing their face masks to replicate the dangers of gas exposure, have to co-ordinate with each other by shifting left and right to squeeze through the space.

It is a slow process, the tunnel can only be passed through on your hands and knees, and the team's every move is made audible as they brush up against its sides.

Eventually, they arrive at the turbine entrance, their injured party still safely strapped to the equipment, and ready to be winched to safety and hauled up the tower to waiting medical crews.

Disaster averted, the team climb down the turbine steps and head off educated and ready for the drama that could follow tomorrow, next week or next year.

They don't know when the benefits of their life-saving techniques will come to the fore, but there is one certainty.

Tomorrow, there will be another serious incident, and workers will once more be fighting for their lives.

And with them will be Jon and Laura, ready to avert those same dangers again.