Britain’s offshore oil and gas installations are held to high regulatory standards, but human error can still lead to a major incident.
That’s the message from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which is urging offshore companies to take a closer look at what’s widely known in the sector as human factors.
HSE inspects human factors on offshore installations, with a particular focus on safety-critical tasks.
Safety-critical tasks have the potential to initiate or escalate a major accident on an installation.
HSE recently issued oil firm Apache with an enforcement notice after inspectors formed the opinion that the company failed to fully consider human factors as part of its plans to prevent a fire and explosion on its Forties Delta platform in the North Sea.
Mary Marshall, a principal specialist inspector at HSE, says it is necessary that offshore firms like Apache identify safety-critical tasks conducted on their offshore installations.
“Offshore companies need to understand and evaluate where and how these safety-critical tasks might be vulnerable to human error," Marshall said. "Safety Critical Task Analysis (SCTA) is an established, structured process that will help companies demonstrate that these tasks can be carried out safely, reliably, and that the risks are managed to as low as reasonably practicable. This will include consideration of the design of the equipment, details of the tasks, and the factors which support task performance.”
HSE has noted a number of offshore firms have launched SCTA programs with varying degrees of success.
Common failings that HSE has identified with these SCTA programs include a lack of sustained commitment and progress with the work and inconsistencies in the quality of assessments.
HSE’s inspection of the Forties Delta platform found that Apache had failed to take appropriate measures to prevent the uncontrolled release of flammable or explosive substances during main oil line pig launcher operations.
Apache currently has until 9 November to comply with the Improvement Notice. It has not appealed the notice.