OFFSHORE MAJOR AND FATAL INJURIES UP IN 2001/2

21 Nov 2002 12:45 PM

The number of major and fatal injuries in the offshore oil and gas industry increased in 2001/2, according to new figures published today by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Overall, the number of incidents has declined but the HSE says that further reductions are needed in the risks to those working offshore.

The HSE offshore statistics report contains provisional injury and incident figures for the year 1 April 2001 to 31 March 2002, plus confirmed data for 2000/2001. The report expands on 'headline' figures posted on HSE's web site as Offshore Safety Statistics Bulletin 2001/2002.

The report shows a provisional total of 230 offshore injuries were reported to HSE during 2001/2002, compared with 233 the previous year. There were 3 fatalities this year, the same as last year, and 'major' injuries showed an increase of 2 compared to last year, up to 55 from 53. The 'over three day' injuries total showed a decrease of 5 compared to 2000/2001, down from 177 to 172. The Inland Revenue's annual population survey found that the offshore workforce decreased slightly from 23,330 in 2000/2001 to 23,206 in 2001/2002.

The table below shows provisional injury numbers and rates per 100,000 workers (in brackets) in 2001/2002 for the three reporting categories. Confirmed 1999/2000 and 2000/2001 data are included for easy comparison:

Category 1999/2000 2000/2001 2001/2002p

Fatalities 2 (10.5) 3 (12.9) 3 (12.9)

Major injuries 53 (278.9) 53 (227.2) 55 (237.0)

The report also shows that 671 dangerous occurrences (non-injury incidents) were reported, compared with 764 in 2000/2001. In addition, there were 14 reported cases of ill health, a decrease of six on the 2000/2001 figures. The report identifies maintenance, drilling and deck operations as the highest risk activities and that the main kinds of accident were lifting operations, manual handling and slips, trips and falls from height. The three fatalities all occurred on mobile drilling installations, with handling and lifting involved in two and a fall from height in the other.

Commenting on the new report, Taf Powell, head of HSE's Offshore Division, said:

"I am concerned that the combined number of major and fatal injuries has increased in the last year. The downward trend of the other incident statistics is encouraging, but - and this is recognised by the industry - there is still much to do. In September, I said publicly that trade union and industry leaders would work together to secure really big improvements in health and safety performance. I have now joined with a new leadership team, known as Step Change, that includes worker representatives and employers working together to construct a blueprint for delivering big improvements across the board."

"A key development has been an in-depth review of common causes of all 7 fatal accidents to drilling contractor personnel since 2000, mostly during deck and drill floor operations, which was shared between HSE and industry leaders. I hope to say more soon about how we intend to reduce the fatal accident rate of drill floor and deck operations to zero. We are clear that behaviors of individuals are key factors in making such operations more safe, particularly in the way jobs are designed and organised, in how the risks are assessed before work starts, and in the quality of supervision and monitoring of the people working in high risk activities."

"Notwithstanding the partnership approach, HSE is continuing to devote its regulatory resources to target risks to people's health and safety offshore, including targeting risks of a major accident threatening the installation itself. The figures show that HSE's key programmes of work are correctly focused on priority areas, and that the clear targets set are necessary and achievable. Through Step Change, HSE will, in future, seek to align industry, workforce and our own efforts to target risk reductions."

"In addition to the work done on preventing further drilling contractor fatalities, other important work has been done. For example we have revisited HSE's policy regarding increased mechanisation of drill floor and deck operations, and issued technical guidance on the safe use of lifting operations offshore. HSE's current priorities also include initiatives to reduce incidents from slips, trips and falls from height by 15%, and injuries and ill health arising from manual handling by 10% by 2004."

Mr Powell added:

"The decrease in the number of dangerous occurrences reported is encouraging, particularly in offshore hydrocarbon releases. HSE is working with industry toward a target of reducing the numbers of major and significant releases by 50% by 2004, and current indications are that the necessary reduction rates are being achieved. We will publish a detailed report of hydrocarbon release statistics later this year."

Tom Botts, Managing Director of Shell UK Exploration and Production and chairman of the industry Step Change in Safety said

"The industry's safety performance has improved since the start of Step Change in 1997, but we all want to see even greater gains. We have set ourselves a bold new vision that by 2010 the UK continental shelf will be the safest place to work in the worldwide oil and gas industry. One of the ways we will do that is to get better alignment and collaboration between industry and the HSE to target key safety improvements in the workplace. We are getting new widespread involvement from the most senior leaders across our Industry who are committed to achieving the new vision. And we are also building on the strong workforce involvement effort that Step Change was founded on. I am confident that the renewed senior leadership commitment, strong alignment and collaboration with the HSE, and widespread workforce involvement will be the keys to achieving our vision."

Danny Carrigan, National Officer, Amicus, said: "These figures demonstrate that we must all continue to work together to ensure that health and safety remains the priority for everyone in the offshore industry."

"The trade unions are fully committed to the Step Change initiative to ensuring that In 2010, the UK is the safest place to work in the world-wide oil and gas industry"

Taf Powell concluded:

"Whereas the Bulletin issued earlier this year gave an early sight of the headline totals of offshore injuries, this latest statistics report contains in-depth details of the nature of injury sustained, the part of body injured, the kind of accidents involved, and the working environment in which they occurred. It is therefore important that offshore analysts recognise the value of its contents when assessing operational health and safety performance over the years covered by the report, particularly in view of the targets set under the Government's Revitalising Health and Safety initiative."

Copies of 'Offshore injury, ill health and incident statistics report 2001/2002 (Provisional data)' (HID Statistics Report HSR 2002 001), are available free from HID Data Management Section, CD4C, Hazardous Installations Directorate, HSE, 2nd Floor St.Anne's House, Bootle L20 3RA, (Tel: 0151-951 3099/Fax: 0151-951 4980). This report is also available on HSE's web site at
http://www.hse.gov.uk/hid/osd/hsr1002/index.htm

Notes to editors

1. This is the tenth report in a series published by HSE's Offshore Division (OSD) since HSE became the safety regulator for the offshore oil and gas industry in April 1991. It is the sixth report produced since the introduction offshore of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR '95).

2. The report contains graphs plotting injury rates since 1993/94 and tables breaking down injuries by type; part of body injured; age of injured person, etc., plus cases of ill-health reported since 1996. Details of reported dangerous occurrences are also given.

3. Previously, pre-1996/97 statistics were not directly comparable with later figures, due to changes of definitions introduced by RIDDOR '95, particularly the definitions of major injuries. However, a review of pre-96/97 data to reclassify injuries, in line with RIDDOR '95, means that all figures in the latest report can now be compared.

4. In order to maintain OSD's policy of providing these offshore statistics reports free of charge, a new HID statistics report (HSR) series was introduced last year, of which this report is the second in the series.

5. The headline figures were previously published on 19 September 2002 in our Offshore Safety Bulletin, which is available from the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/hid/osd/osdstats/stat0102.htm
.

6. For further information on Step Change in Safety, including latest activities and initiatives see the web-site
www.stepchangeinsafety.net

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