UK Offshore Sees Continued Safety Improvement

The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry continued to see improvement across a range of health and safety indicators last year, according to a new report from industry body Oil & Gas UK.

The report outlined that reportable incidents dropped by 67 percent in 2017, since the peak of 2000-01, and highlighted that the non-fatal injury rate continued to decrease across the UKCS.

Oil & Gas UK’s report also showed that no fatal injuries occurred offshore last year and that offshore helicopter operations in 2017 were conducted without accident.

Following the publication of Oil & Gas UK’s latest safety report, the industry body noted improvements in the sector but said there was no room for complacency.

“As a major hazard industry, the UK’s offshore oil and gas sector has a clear duty to protect the health and safety of our people,” Oil & Gas UK Health and Safety Manager, Trevor Stapleton, said.

“The data shows that while we continue to see improvements across a range of trends, there can be no room for complacency,” he added.

“That’s why Oil & Gas UK is coordinating industry action to reduce the number of major hydrocarbon releases. In a year where we marked 30 years since Piper Alpha, we’re all too aware of the personal and long-lasting consequences if things go wrong,” Mr Stapleton continued.

Major hydrocarbon releases, whilst reduced since 2012, are plateauing at around two per year in the last few years, according to the report.

“We’ve committed to working with the regulator, industry and, in collaboration with Step Change in Safety, to help steer efforts in the areas of process safety leadership, audit, self-verification and sustainable learning,” Mr Stapleton said.

“As our industry emerges from a sustained downturn, the health and safety of our people remains a core value and is at the heart of all that we do,” he added.

Earlier this year at the Oil & Gas UK organised Safety 30 conference in Aberdeen, Paul Wheelhouse MSP, the minister for business, innovation and energy in Scottish government, said nothing is more important than ensuring the safety of those offshore.

At the same event, which the industry body organised in association with the International Regulators’ Forum, industry delegates were told that the UK offshore oil and gas sector must maintain a relentless focus on safe operations.

Source: Rigzone