THERE have been more than 100 safety incidents in the last three years on oil rigs in UK waters owned by the same firm as the Deepwater Horizon platform which exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, official figures revealed yesterday.
There have been six major injuries on rigs owned by Transocean since 2007-08 and 38 incidents which have left a person off work for more than three days.
Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling firm, owned the Deepwater Horizon rig which sank in the Gulf of Mexico, with the loss of 11 lives.
The incident led to the largest oil spill in US history from the BP-operated well.
The Transocean figures, released by Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling, show that 107 incidents were reported by the firm to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) since 2007-08.
Under the categories used by the HSE, major injuries can include fractures, electrical or chemical burns, loss of sight, amputations and dislocations.
There were two major injuries reported on the Transocean John Shaw rig and one each on the Transocean Prospect, GSF Galaxy II, Sedco 704 and Sedco 711.
There were 36 near-misses which had the potential to cause injuries – “dangerous occurrences” as the HSE classify them.
The figures were released in a reply to Labour front bencher Gareth Thomas who has asked a series of questions about Transocean’s activities.
BP’s clean-up costs for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster have passed the $3billion (£1.97billion) mark.
The oil group has spent $3.1billion (£2billion) so far on efforts to stop the leak and to settle damage claims.
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