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25 August, 2008
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of the UK has issued a cautionary warning on the number of hydrocarbon releases in the offshore oil and gas industries. Such releases are considered precursors for major accidents.
The concern comes just five weeks after British trade unions and civil society commemorated the 20-year anniversary of the deadly Piper Alpha offshore disaster, in which 167 oil workers were killed.
Figures released by the UK's HSE reveal that there has been no improvement in the number of hydrocarbon releases in 2007-2008. Some 517 dangerous incidents were reported in that period, 40% of which were hydrocarbon releases.
The statistics, released by the HSE on 13 August, show that there was also an increase in the number of serious injuries in the offshore sector in 2007-2008 from the prior year. There were 44, compared to 39 in 2006-2007. Although for the first time in three years there were no fatalities in the offshore sector, there were 12 deaths in marine operations tied to offshore work. That included eight seamen who perished in April 2007 when the Norwegian anchor-handling tug supply vessel Bourbon Dolphin sunk in UK waters off the Shetland Islands.
HSE Executive Judith Hackitt said the statistics are a reminder “that we are far from being in a position where we can feel comfortable. On the failure to reduce the number of hydrocarbon releases, plus the increase in recorded dangerous incidents, she said the obvious implication is “that basic safety systems are not being followed.”
UK’s worst offshore disaster in the UK occurred on 6 July 1988 during Occidental Petroleum’s Piper Alpha platform blasts. The 167 workers killed were caught in a hellish series of explosions lasting 75 minutes that many blamed on lax management control systems.