The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging North Sea operators to pay closer attention to offshore safety after issuing a warning to Apache.
The HSE said the recent enforcement notice issue to Apache followed a recent inspection of its Forties Delta platform.
Inspectors found Apache “failed to fully consider human factors as part of its plans to prevent a fire and explosion” on Forties Delta.
The regulator said its now calling on the entire offshore industry to “take a closer look at human factors, with a particular focus on safety critical tasks”.
Forties Delta
According to the HSE notice, the issues stemmed from the design of the main oil line (MOL) pig launching system on the platform.
HSE principal specialist inspector Mary Marshall said offshore firms like Apache need to identify safety critical tasks carried out on their offshore installations.
“Offshore companies need to understand and evaluate where and how these safety critical tasks might be vulnerable to human error,” Marshall said.
The regulator said adopting Safety Critical Task Analysis (SCTA) will help North Sea firms demonstrate tasks can be carried out “safely, reliably and that the risks are managed to as low as reasonably practicable”.
“This will include consideration of the design of the equipment, details of the tasks and the factors which support task performance,” Marshall added.
The HSE said several offshore firms have launched SCTA programmes “with varying degrees of success”.
Common failings the HSE identified include a lack of sustained commitment and progress with the work, and “inconsistencies in the quality of assessments”.
When approached for comment Apache said: “At the time the notice was received, Apache was in the process of updating procedures and conducting safety critical task analysis on Forties Delta.
“Equipment labelling has been replaced and alternative height access has been installed.”
Apache North Sea
The HSE said its inspection of Forties Delta found Apache “failed to take appropriate measures to prevent the uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive substances during main oil line pig launcher operations”.
The American firm has not appealed against the notice, and currently has until 9 November to comply with the HSE findings.
The Forties Delta notice follows the HSE warning Apache last year over concerns the company “routinely” overloaded lifeboats on the Forties Echo platform.
In November last year, the HSE also found Apache had nearly 26,000 hours of Safety and Environmentally Critical Elements (SECE) across seven UK installations.
The firm also received a warning over its failure to properly maintain supports to the flaring system on its Beryl hub.
It comes as analysts predict Apache could be set to exit the North Sea in 2024 following its decision to not invest in new drilling on the UKCS.
Recent analysis from Welligence showed the firm’s decision to halt further drilling at the Beryl and Forties fields by could see the hubs become cash flow negative up to 10 years earlier.
Apache added: “Apache is committed to safe and responsible operations. We remain focussed on all maintenance work and continue to implement appropriate mitigations to maintain safe, ongoing operations.”
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