Offshore Safety Management Chapter 1 Sample

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OFFSHORE SAFETY MANAGEMENT

CHAPTER 1

1st

Edition

Copyright Sutton Technical Books. All Rights Reserved. 2012


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OFFSHORE SAFETY MANAGEMENT

Copyright 2012 by Sutton Technical Books

Sutton, Ian S.

Offshore Safety Management Chapter 1

Published and distributed by Sutton Technical Books, Houston, Texas

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WARNINGDISCLAIMERThis ebook provides information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is distributed with theunderstanding that the publisher, the author and any other advisors are not engaged in rendering

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references provided atwww.stb07.com/citations.html.

Every effort has been made to make this ebook as complete and as accurate as possible. However,

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1Offshore Safety Management .................................................................... 1Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1Value of Safety Management Systems ............................................................................ 1Structure of this Book ...................................................................................................... 2Industry Trends ................................................................................................................ 4Impact of Deepwater Horizon ......................................................................................... 6Safety Management Systems ........................................................................................... 7

1. Facility Description ................................................................................................. 82. Technical Information ............................................................................................. 83. Risk Assessment ...................................................................................................... 84. Risk Acceptance ...................................................................................................... 85. Report ...................................................................................................................... 96. Audit ........................................................................................................................ 9

Historical Background ................................................................................................... 10Offshore ..................................................................................................................... 10Onshore ..................................................................................................................... 11

Occupational, Process and Technical Safety ................................................................. 12Occupational Safety .................................................................................................. 13Process Safety ........................................................................................................... 13

OSHAs PSM Standard ......................................................................................... 13SEMP and SEMS .................................................................................................. 14The Baker Report .................................................................................................. 15The Incident Triangle ............................................................................................ 16

Technical Safety ........................................................................................................ 17Risk Management .......................................................................................................... 18

Perception of the Consequence Term ........................................................................ 18Performance Based / Prescriptive Programs ............................................................. 19Acceptable Risk ......................................................................................................... 20Uncertainty ............................................................................................................ 22

Cost Benefit Analysis ............................................................................................ 22Risk Reduction ...................................................................................................... 22

Risk Matrices ............................................................................................................. 22Consequence Matrix .............................................................................................. 22Frequency Matrix .................................................................................................. 23Risk Matrix ............................................................................................................ 24

As Low as Reasonably Practicable RiskALARP ................................................ 25Setting ALARP...................................................................................................... 25Difficulties with ALARP ....................................................................................... 26Reverse ALARP .................................................................................................... 26

Regulations .................................................................................................................... 26Types of Safety Regulation ....................................................................................... 27Prescriptive / Goal-Based ...................................................................................... 27Enforcement Mechanism ....................................................................................... 28Reporting Requirements ........................................................................................ 28Examples of Types of Regulation ......................................................................... 29

The Regulators Dilemma ......................................................................................... 30Responsible Parties ................................................................................................... 30

Rule-Making Process (U.S) ........................................................................................... 31


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Regulatory Agencies (U.S.) ........................................................................................... 32Outer Continental Shelf ............................................................................................. 33State Jurisdiction ....................................................................................................... 33Minerals Management Service (MMS) ..................................................................... 33BOEMRE .................................................................................................................. 34Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement ................................................... 36

30 CFR Part 250 .................................................................................................... 37Subparts ................................................................................................................. 38NTLs ...................................................................................................................... 38Inspections ............................................................................................................. 39

Coast Guard ............................................................................................................... 39Classification Societies.............................................................................................. 39Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ................................................................. 40Department of Transportation ................................................................................... 40National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) .................................. 40Army Corp of Engineers ........................................................................................... 40The Jones Act ............................................................................................................ 40SAMS (California) .................................................................................................... 40

PFEER Regulation (UK) ............................................................................................... 40International (SOLAS) .................................................................................................. 41Special Safety Issues Offshore ...................................................................................... 41

Lack of Escape Routes .............................................................................................. 42Persons on Board ....................................................................................................... 43Hurricanes / Cyclones ............................................................................................... 43Downers and Leaners ................................................................................................ 44Blowouts .................................................................................................................... 44Hydrogen Sulfide ...................................................................................................... 45Dropped Objects ........................................................................................................ 45Helicopters ................................................................................................................ 45Ship Collisions .......................................................................................................... 45


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Offshore Safety Management. 1st Edition

Chapter 1

Copyright Sutton Technical Books 2012. All rights reserved.

CHAPTER 1OFFSHORE SAFETYMANAGEMENT

INTRODUCTION

The production of oil and gas offshore is risky. The danger of fires and explosions is always

present and the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is a frequent by-product of the oil and gas that is

produced. Drilling rigs and platforms are generally crowded with equipment and machinery, and

if there is an accident there are few places to which to escape. Moreover, in locations such

as the North Sea, weather conditions can be harsh and unforgiving.

Thus, from its very beginning this industry has had to pay particular attention to the safety of theworkers and the prevention of catastrophic events. Generally these efforts have been successful,

particularly with regard to occupational or hard hat safety. However, as discussed in the next

chapter, major accidents do occur with some degree of frequency, and the costs of such accidents

in terms of human life, environmental damage and economic loss can be enormous.

This book has been written to help those who design and operate offshore facilities to build and

improve on the industrys good safety record, and to take actions that will help prevent andcontrol catastrophic events. Specifically, the book shows how to develop, implement and operate

a Safety Management System (SMS). The primary purpose of such a system is to identify the

hazards that could lead to a major event, assess the risk associated with them, and then to

implement the appropriate safeguards and corrective actions in order to ensure that such events donot actually occur, or that their consequences are minimized.

At the time of writing new safety management regulations are being put into place in the United

States as a result of the Deepwater Horizon incident (the incident itself is discussed in Chapter 2).

These new regulations, known as the Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS)

rule, are discussed in detail in Chapters 4 and 5. Although these regulations apply only to the

United States, the principles embodied within them are general in nature and can be applied to

offshore installations worldwide. In other words, developing and implementing a SEMS is good

practice, wherever a facility may be located.

VALUE OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Given that the development, implementation and maintenance of Safety Management Systems isexpensive and time consuming, it is important to establish that they are actually providing value.

The section on Industry Trends (see below) shows that, over the last fifteen years or so,

occupational safety trends have been very impressive. But Safety Management Systems (SMS)

are more concerned with the control of catastrophic events, such as those described in Chapter 2.

Given that such events happen only rarely it is difficult to develop trend lines in the same manner.


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However, it is probably fair to say that most professionals in the offshore oil and gas industry

accept that the management of catastrophic events has improved, but not nearly as dramatically as

it has for occupational safety. The reason for this cautious response may be that an SMS program

by itself is not enough it is a necessary but not sufficient condition. To be effective the SMS

has to affect the culture of the organization, and the way people behave and act. The effectiveness

of the program also depends on the leadership and decisiveness of the company management, asdiscussed in Chapter 8.

The conclusion that can be drawn is that, if the catastrophic events are to be controlled, a Safety

Management System provides a necessary foundation. However, it is just a foundation it also

has to be implemented and it requires forceful leadership.

STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK

This book is organized into the eight chapters listed in Table 1.1.


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Table 1.1

Book Structure

Chapter Overview

1 Offshore SafetyManagement (thisone)

This first chapter provides an overview of safety management in theoffshore oil and gas industry. Trends within the industry are discussed,along with an assessment of the impact of the recent DeepwaterHorizon incident. A description of the different types of safety occupational, process and technical is provided, along with adescription of Safety Management Systems. An overview of regulationsand special safety issues to do with offshore operations is alsoprovided.

2 Major Events The development of safety systems is largely driven by lessons learnedfrom incidents particularly catastrophic events. The second chapterprovides an overview of some of the incidents that have led to thedevelopment of new offshore safety standards and techniques. Inaddition to describing important offshore incidents, three events fromother industries are also described because of the impact that they had

on all industrial safety management programs.

3 SEMP In response to the Piper Alpha catastrophe of 1988 the AmericanPetroleum Institute (API) published Recommended Practice 75. It callson offshore operators to prepare and implement a Safety andEnvironmental Program (SEMP). This chapter describes and discussesthe scope and content of a typical SEMP.

4 SEMS In 2010, in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, SEMP wasmade a legal requirement. The new rule, which is described in Chapter4, is known as the Safety and Environmental Management Systems(SEMS).

5

ImplementingSEMS

Many companies have a lot of work to do before they come intocompliance with the SEMS rule. Not only do they have to complete theirSEMP, the rule adds many other requirements. This chapter describeshow to implement a SEMS program, with a particular focus on thosecompanies that have a lot of catch-up work to do.

6 Safety Cases SEMS and SEMP are not the only types of Safety ManagementSystem. Offshore facilities in other parts of the world, for exam;le, useSafety Cases. This chapter describes the structure of a typical SafetyCase. Related topics, such as levels of acceptable risk, are alsodiscussed.

7 Formal Safety

Assessments

A very brief overview of some of the technical analyses used to build a

Safety Management System

primarily in the design phase

areprovided in this chapter. An overview of the topic of risk quantification isalso provided.


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8 Developments inOffshore Safety

This final chapter provides a brief overview of how offshore safetymanagement is changing, and what developments could plausibly occurover the next few years. Also discussed in this chapter are the topics ofleadership and long-tail events. Some concluding thoughts to do withleadership and the role of regulations are provided.

INDUSTRY TRENDS

The offshore industry has made great strides in improving safety. Figure 1.1 shows the progress

that has been made in the United States (mostly the Gulf of Mexico).

Figure 1.1

Safety TrendsUnited States Outer Continental Shelf

The above chart was published by the United States Mineral Management Service (MMS) the

government agency responsible for offshore safety regulation and enforcement. (Following the

Deepwater Horizon incident this agency was renamed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management,

Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEMRE.) The chart provides data to do with the number ofoffshore safety incidents for the period 1996-2008. The trend is impressive: in just a twelve year

period the recordable injury rate declined from 3.39 to 0.64: a drop of around 80%. The number

of lost workdays dropped by a similar percentage. Moreover the trend is quite smooth and steady,showing that the results are not a fluke or one-time event. And these advances were made as the

industry has worked in ever-more challenging conditionsparticularly as it has moved into verydeep water operations.

The improvements shown in Figure 1.1 are not confined to the offshore industry. Similar trends

are reported by onshore process facilities in the United States, as shown in Figure 1.2

(Pitblado 2008).
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Figure 1.2

Safety TrendsUnited States Onshore Facilities

The overall trend line in Figure 1.2, which is built on data from many large companies,

demonstrates an order of magnitude improvement in occupational safety in the twelve year period

covered. This is comparable to the trends shown in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.3 shows a similarpositive trend with respect to the industrys environmental record. Thedata, which are provided by the United Coast Guard, include some land-based facilities, and also

spills from inshore (State) waters. If the two bars for each of the years in Figure 1.3 are

combined, it can be seen that the amount of oil spilled annually has declined from just under 6

million gallons in the early 1980s to an almost negligible amount by the year 2005.

So, up until the year 2010, the offshore oil and gas industry was able to demonstrate a good and

steadily improving safety and environmental performance.

Offshore Safety Management Chapter 1 Sample

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