Norwegian major Equinor recently released its third-quarter safety report, which shows the number of serious incidents measured over the past 12 months is still declining.
At the end of the third quarter of 2023, the serious incident frequency (SIF) per million hours worked was 0.3, which is equivalent to the level the company reported at the end of the second quarter and down from 0.4 in the first quarter. Serious injuries are also included in the serious incident frequency.
The total recordable injury frequency (TRIF)—the number of injuries per million hours worked—is 2.4 for the past 12 months per the third quarter, down from 2.5 in the second quarter.
Ten oil and gas leaks have been recorded during the past 12 months, Equinor reported. The company classifies oil and gas leaks by the severity of the leak rate.
“On 30 August, a crew member on the LPG tanker Exo Galaxy fell overboard and died in Malaysia,” said Jannicke Nilsson, Equinor’s executive vice president for safety, security, and sustainability. “The vessel was in operation for Equinor. This is a tragic incident affecting everyone involved and is a strong reminder that, even though we see a positive safety trend, we must keep focusing on safety in all our activities.”
The ship is on contract with Equinor and was on its way for loading operations in Malaysia. A search-and-rescue operation was launched immediately, and the missing person was found dead in the water on 1 September. Equinor is in close dialogue with the Stealth Maritime shipping company, which is following up with the next-of-kin locally. The incident is being investigated.
Preventing Major Accidents
The third-quarter safety report suggests that Equinor’s employees have worked, together with the suppliers, have worked well throughout the year on preventing major accidents. The company said a significant effort has been made on safety-critical maintenance on the company’s installations and plants.
“The lag in this type of maintenance has been strongly reduced since 2020, and it has never been lower than it is now,” Nilsson said. “Reducing the lag in safety-critical maintenance is essential in our effort to prevent major accidents.”
No incidents with major accident potential were recorded in the third quarter of 2023.
Equinor said it is continuing its work on preventing major accidents by focusing particularly on safety training of leaders and on e-learning courses that are also available to the company’s suppliers.