Piper Alpha film voted Step Change in Safety’s most effective work

Step Change in Safety has marked its 25th anniversary by naming the Remembering Piper Alpha film as its most effective resource.

The not-for-profit industry orgnanisation has been staging an event at the P&J Live today to mark the occasion, with a panel session contesting the four most important resources it has produced since 1997.

“So we react to what’s current but we also recognise what the underlying challenges are that we face over 25 years and beyond and we will continue to focus on them as well.”

In contention were the green hat policy, the major accidents hazards awareness pack, the mental health awareness films and the Remembering Piper Alpha film.

The film, released in 2013 has a 22-minute run time, the same length of time it took for the Piper Alpha disaster to take place.

Titled, Remembering Piper: The Night that Changed Our World, the film depicts the events of the night of the 6th July 1988 using a graphic, stylised artwork and audio from the BBC Radio 3 drama ‘Piper Alpha – the Human Price of Oil’, by Stephen Phelps, the piece drives home the human experience of the tragedy.

Those in the P&J Live were asked to vote and those in attendance decided that Remembering Piper Alpha should be recognised as Step Change in Safety’s most effective resource.

When asked about how offshore safety has changed in the last 25 years, executive director of Step Change in Safety and Piper Alpha survivor, Steve Rae, said: “We are better prepared to respond to potential incidents, I think the workforce is now far more aware of the hazards that they face on a daily basis.

We do much more about ensuring that people are competent to carry out their work but more than anything I think we are providing a forum now where safety is extremely important and discussed across the industry level and that is how it has changed the most.”

Looking forward

Step Change in Safety will be looking to its next major milestone and is setting plans into motion to continue the work it does.

The last time Mr Rae spoke with Energy Voice he mentioned how the organisation is translating its resources into other languages to make its safety videos and literature more accessible to a wider audience.

When asked about this Rae said: “That work is ongoing, we’ve translated the first few of our joined-up thinking resources and we plan to do more.

“The intention is not necessarily because we’re going on a growth mission, but to support the companies that are already international members and also acknowledge the feedback we’ve had that some folks that come to work in our industry that doesn’t necessarily have English as their first language and I think it is important that we recognise that.”

© Supplied by Ryan Duff

Translating existing materials into new languages is not the only project the safety resources not-for-profit.

Step Change in Safety’s executive director said: “We’re going to do some work with OEUK and the UK HSE around process safety leadership.

“We are going to start looking back to basics, which doesn’t mean that we are going to simplify anything. What it means is we not necessarily going to be creating new resources or targeting new areas.

“We’re going to focus on the things that matter the most.

“So we react to what’s current but we also recognise what the underlying challenges are that we face over 25 years and beyond and we will continue to focus on them as well.”

Key takeaways from 25 years of Step Change in Safety

© Supplied by Ryan Duff

Step Change in Safety’s executive director spoke about the resource he is most proud of: “Many of our resources are linked back to Piper Alpha, not just the disaster but the recommendations that came out of the Cullen enquiry.

“So a lot of our tools have come off the back of that and we continue to develop, just like we did with the major accidents and hazards, the green hat policy, the competency in training, the control of safe working essentials, it’s all tied back to the significant impact that 1988 had on the oil industry.”

Rounding out, Mr Rae spoke about how the day of 25th-anniversary celebrations went: “The most important thing for me is we have a room full of people who are like-minded and the intention was to have people from every area of the business from the workforce through to leadership, safety professionals, etc. and I think we’ve achieved that.”