Health & Safety
The safety rep and reporting of a major accident
More than ever, says John Moss, the offshore industry needs effective, knowledgeable and competent safety representatives.
E
uropean law first referred to workforce involvement in occupational safety in 1989 with the introduction of what is now usually referred to as the OSH Framework Directive. Te Directive
stresses the ‘importance of worker participation in the development and adoption of safe work systems’.
for the HSE is that 21 years after the arrival of safety cases offshore, the integrity of ageing infrastructures must to continue to be managed safely. In 2012 approximately 50 per cent of the fixed platforms on the UKCS had exceeded their original 25 year design life, with that proportion set to steadily increase over time. Now a new EU Directive relating to offshore oil and gas prospection, exploration and production safety is about to be enacted. Te Directive is likely to include significant changes to the current safety case approach to offshore safety management, placing much more focus on how major
Tis concept of information sharing and workforce involvement was further strengthened in 2000 when the European Charter of Fundamental Rights was drafted and included Article 27 stating that ‘Workers or their representatives must, at the appropriate levels, be guaranteed information and consultation in good time in the cases and under the conditions provided for by Community law and national laws and practices’. Te UK and the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) were ahead of the game therefore when in 1977 the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations were introduced; following this up in 1989 with the offshore specific Offshore Installations (Safety Representatives and Safety Committees) Regulations.
Control major hazards Te advent of the HSE’S Offshore Division in 1991 and the introduction of the safety case system in the following year meant that duty holders then as now have to demonstrate to the enforcement authorities that major hazards are adequately controlled and that a suitable management system is in place. A major challenge for the offshore industry and
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