Oil and gas safety leaders have paid tribute to efforts to keep offshore workers safe in the past year after it emerged as one of the UK’s safest industries.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) said only the education and financial sectors had recorded fewer non-fatal accidents in three years, with North Sea employees at less risk of injury than retail staff and health and social workers.
A total of 530 non-fatal injuries were recorded per 100,000 offshore workers between 2009 and 2012, while the number of oil and gas leaks nearly halved between 2010 and 2012.
In its annual health and safety report, OGUK said the sector had fallen just short of an ambitious target to reduce hydrocarbon releases by 50%, but commended firms on their efforts to cut the rate by 48% to 97 in the UK North Sea last year.
The report, published today, also highlighted the challenge to the sector caused by the grounding of the Eurocopter EC225 helicopters following two ditchings last year, while it said energy giant Total’s emergency response was tested by the major gas leak at its Elgin field last year.
It added: “The safe and efficient rescue of personnel in this, as well as the two helicopter incidents, is testament to the extensive training our offshore workers regularly undergo to prepare for and respond to these emergency situations.”
OGUK health and safety director Robert Paterson said: “While the review that followed the Piper Alpha disaster provided the foundation for what is now one of the most robust offshore health and safety regimes in the world, the approaching 25th anniversary of that tragedy only serves to remind us that we must never stop at striving to make things safer.”
Union leader Jake Molloy said he was encouraged by the report – but warned more still needed to be done in the sector.
The regional organiser for RMT said he was glad there had been no fatalities in the industry last year but added there was still room for improvement.
He said: “The fact we are having an event (hydrocarbon leak) every couple of weeks … comparable with the event which initiated Piper Alpha shows there is room for further improvement, and we need to get after it.”
Meanwhile, the judge whose report into the Piper Alpha disaster led to massive changes in offshore safety has described the inquiry for the first time.
Lord Cullen, who led the investigation after 167 men died on the platform on July 6, 1988, described the inquiry as a “huge challenge” but said everyone in the industry, including the workforce and people affected by what happened, wanted to create something positive out of the catastrophe.
He added: “Each company was looking to itself to see whether this could happen to them and what they could do about it.
“This all contributed to a will to see that something better for the future could be evolved.”
