Monday 14 April 2008

NEW INDUSTRY WORKSHOP SET TO IMPROVE ASSET INTEGRITY MANAGEMENT

Step Change in Safety is today, 14 April 2008, launching a unique industry workshop intended to equip company leaders to ask the right questions about asset integrity and ensure that they are sufficiently well informed on the issue when setting business priorities and making decisions. The workshop aims to raise awareness of asset integrity with a view to further improving industry performance in this critical area.

This one-day, in-company workshop will initially be rolled out to 30 companies, but will later be opened up to the entire industry. Ian Aitchison, leader of the Step Change in Safety team, explained: "This workshop is unique in the sense that it has been designed in direct response to a request by senior industry leaders. During the workshop, participants will explore various case studies, look at safety critical elements and gain a better understanding of tools and models available for improving asset integrity management."

One of the first companies to roll out this interactive workshop is Talisman, whose Flotta Catchment Area General Manager, John Forrest, was directly involved in developing the programme. He explained: "Step Change in Safety has worked very closely with industry leaders and the training provider to design this unique workshop as part of its 2008 asset integrity programme.

"At Talisman the entire senior leadership team, including our regional vice president and certain key contractor personnel, will be attending the workshop. We have been very active in promoting good asset integrity practices within Talisman and our contractors, and we see the workshop as complementary to the improvement programme we already have underway."  

The offshore industry compares well with many other industries in terms of its safety performance. Its safety record improved greatly in 2007, with the lowest number of major injuries since 1995/1996, despite a 22% increase in the offshore workforce. The number of dangerous occurrences also decreased to the lowest level in the last ten years. To maintain this positive trend, companies are investing more than £1 billion a year on asset integrity alone, a figure not matched by any other industry.

Nevertheless there is no complacency about the current safety performance and the industry in the UK is working hard to make the UK continental shelf the safest place to work in the world wide oil and gas industry.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Britta Hallbauer

Oil & Gas UK Media Relations                      

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Email: bhallbauer@oilandgasuk.co.uk

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