North Sea safety organisation Step Change in Safety has released a report based on the results of its largest ever industry survey.
The member organisation launched the Process Safety Workforce Survey in April, with nearly 2,000 members of the North Sea workforce across 90 companies taking part.
The white paper report found that while process safety culture is “firmly embedded” at most organisations, information sharing across the industry is “an area for improvement”.
According to the survey, fewer than half of respondents knew how their organisation performs compared to others when it came to major accident hazard information.
It also found there are further opportunities for improvement in training and incident reporting.
Additionally, Step Change in Safety said most senior leaders perceive their onsite engagement and sharing of experience to be more favourable than the wide workforce.
The survey showed the workforce also believes senior leaders should be more present at worksites.
Step Change in Safety survey
Most survey respondents have between ten and 20 years experience in the sector, with high-hazard workers in operations “well-represented”.
Step Change in Safety chief executive Craig Wiggins said the insights from the report, along with the 2023 Process Safety Leadership Survey, can help member firms understand their “actual position” regarding the implementation of the organisation’s safety leadership principles.
“As we expected, there is much agreement between the two surveys,” Wiggins said.
“However, this report highlights some key areas of difference between what executive and senior leaders believe is in place versus the reality at the front line.”
“The safety of our workforce always comes first. It is the responsibility of everyone associated with our industry to demonstrate chronic unease daily, and to ensure that we all go home safe.”
Wiggins encouraged all member companies to go through the report and incorporate its learnings into their health and safety and process safety plans.
Step Change in Safety will host a webinar discussion focused on the survey findings, produced in partnership with Empirisys, on Wednesday, 4 September 2024.