Friday 12 September 2003

BRENT BRAVO – UKOOA SAYS LESSONS WILL BE LEARNED

The UK Offshore Operators Association today expressed its deepest sympathy for the families, friends and colleagues of the two men who lost their lives yesterday on the Shell UK Exploration and Production (Shell Expro) Brent Bravo platform.

Steve Harris, UKOOAs acting director general, said: The whole of the offshore oil and gas industry shares Shell and Wood Groups shock and sense of loss caused by this tragic incident.

I have spoken to Tom Botts, managing director for Shell Expro, who has told me that when the causes of the accident are known and fully understood, the lessons learned will be shared with the rest of the Industry.

Speculation as to the cause of the accident at this point is both pointless and unhelpful. I would urge everyone to wait until all enquiries are complete and to respect the men, their families and colleagues.

The industry has worked extensively with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to improve its safety performance, while the industrys own Step Change in Safety programme has achieved much to raise awareness of safety in the workplace. But it is still not enough. We need to work together and ignore attempts to politicise safety as an issue as this will be the best way to try and ensure that such a dreadful loss of life never happens again.

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NOTE TO EDITORS

1.The UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA) is the representative organisation for oil and gas companies licensed by the UK government to explore for and produce hydrocarbons offshore around the British Isles. It currently has 30 members.

For more information, please call 020 7802 2400.