Reducing the number of hydrocarbon releases will remain top of the agenda in the drive to make the UK the safest place to work in the worldwide oil and gas industry.
This is the message of the 2012 Annual Update from Step Change in Safety, which was published yesterday (4 April), as the gas leak from the Total Elgin platform in the North Sea (pictured) entered its 11th day.
Co-chair of the initiative Ken Robertson commented: “Step Change has risen to the challenge of reducing leaks year on year by developing a wide range of tools to help companies ensure their staff have the required good practice guidance, competencies and leadership skills. A huge amount of work is going on to share data and best practices across the industry.”
The report highlights the achievements of Step Change since its formation in 1997, including:
Based on HSE statistics the offshore oil and gas industry is the third-best performing sector in terms of non-fatal accidents. Said Ken Robertson: “Step Change is all about the entire industry coming together to share best practice, agree common areas for improvements in safety and deploy these across the sector.
“There is still work to be done a strong push is needed in the next year and beyond in order to get to where we want to be.”
To this end, Step Change has recently brought elected safety representatives on to its leadership team. Co-chair Martin Ellins explained: “We highly value the input from our workforce and we know that an engaged workforce is a vital component of a safe working culture. The active participation of the safety representatives on our leadership team and their help in challenging the wider UK oil and gas industry to make the positive changes required to continue to improve offshore safety will be very important.”
To download a copy of the 2012 Step Change in Safety Annual Update, click here.
