Friday 17 August 2001

UKOOA statement in response to HSE Offshore Statistics Bulletin 2000/2001

In response to the publication of the Health & Safety Executives (HSE) second annual offshore safety statistics bulletin giving the provisional injury and incident figures for the year 1 April 2000 to 31 March 2001, the UK Offshore Operators Association (UKOOA), the industry body representing oil and gas exploration and production companies in the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS), issued the following statement:

John Wils, UKOOAs Director of Operational and Technical Affairs, said:"UKOOA is sadly aware of the fatalities reported in 2000/2001 and deeply regrets the loss of any life within our industry. We are currently working with the HSE to understand why these deaths occurred so that appropriate steps may be taken to prevent further loss.

"It is encouraging to note that HSEs provisional figures indicate that the number of people injured in the offshore oil and gas industry continues to fall.

"But it is the improvement in incident rates which is particularly significant. The rates take into account the offshore population, which grew by 23 percent to 23,330 workers in 2000/2001, and show that the combined major and fatal incident rate fell by 21 percent, while the less serious or "over three day" rate dropped by 26 percent.

"These improvements reflect the huge effort that has been made over the last four years by the Industry and the workforce through the on-going Step Change safety campaign to improve the sectors safety performance.

"We note the increase in the number of "dangerous occurrences" and are aware that this is mainly due to better reporting of "minor" hydrocarbon releases as a result of the recent campaign to increase awareness of the need to report this type of release.

"There has been a major drive to reduce the number of hydrocarbon releases offshore and a number of joint industry/HSE initiatives are currently underway. These include updating the HSEs hydrocarbon database, workshops and seminars, the production of training material, and the sharing of good practice as well as technical research into pipe work vibration and corrosion."

For more information, please call 020 7802 2400.