THE head of the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division and a key figure in offshore safety improvements in the UK North Sea is about to retire after 3
Aberdeen-based Ian Whewell, 60, joined what was to become HSE in 1974, just before the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act, which is based around the principle that those who create risk are best placed to control that risk.
He said that today oil companies, contractors and offshore workers had combined to look at risks and how to manage them effectively, and the risks of another Piper Alpha were much better controlled although in an environment involving flammable hydrocarbons there would always be hazards in the background.
Mr Whewell said: “Even though the oil and gas industry is regulated, the key is to have the industry manage the risk itself and the responsibility must rest firmly with companies.”
The offshore division was created when responsibility for offshore safety transferred to the HSE from the former Department for Energy in 1991 on the basis of recommendations made in the report by Lord Cullen following the Piper Alpha tragedy in 1988.
Mr Whewell joined the division in 1993 and worked to develop new goal-setting legislation aimed at preventing another Piper Alpha disaster. He was involved in developing the three major pieces of offshore legislation which supported the safety case regime; all of which are still in place today.
In 1995, he was promoted unit head and moved to Aberdeen. Subsequently he took up the post of the head of the offshore division. He now lives at Inverurie.
He believes strongly that the best results are only delivered if the industry, HSE and the workforce work together. He has no firm plans for retirement except to play more golf and spend more time with his family, although he will look to see if anything interesting comes up.
Mr Whewell’s successor is likely to be announced just before the Offshore Europe oil show early next month.
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