Hydrocarbon releases on oil and gas installations have fallen by 40 per cent over the last two years, providing confidence that the industry can meet a 50-per-cent reduction target by next year.
Launching its first ever health and safety report, Oil & Gas UK revealed that major and significant hydrocarbon releases in 2011/2012 are at an all-time low.
The report also showed that, over the last three years, the offshore industry has been the third-best performing sector in the UK on non-fatal accidents. Its non-fatal injury rate between 2008 and 2011 was 579 per 100,000 workers – a better performance than the public sector, retail and general manufacturing, with only finance/business and education performing better. Across all industries, the non-fatal injury rate was 750 per 100,000 workers.
The report also finds a steady reduction in the incidence of over-three-day injuries, which reached an all-time low of 386.8 per 100,000 workers in 2010/11. Over the last 15 years, there has been a 70-per-cent reduction of these types of incident.
The report also provides commentary on a number of ongoing projects, including Oil & Gas UK’s lobbying efforts to ensure the European Commission’s proposals for new regulation of offshore health and safety do not undermine the existing regime in the UK.
Oil & Gas UK’s health and safety director, Robert Paterson, said: “The report serves to underline the fact that the UK has one of the most robust offshore health and safety regimes in the world. The reason it is strong is because we’re not complacent and we’re always looking for ways to improve, or to make things safer.”
“Ongoing work around asset integrity and life extension, operational risk assessments and aviation safety are prime examples of this and demonstrate our intention to effectively tackle some very challenging health and safety issues,” he explained. “Workforce involvement in a number of key work groups has been hugely beneficial in helping improve health and safety performance.
“However, safety is never ‘done’ and there is no room for complacency; industry leaders at all levels must remain vigilant if current improvement trends are to continue.”
To download a copy of the Oil & Gas UK Health and Safety report 2012, go to www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/publications/viewpub.cfm?frmPubID=444
