The International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP) annual report on safety performance indicators revealed the number of oilfield fatalities had decreased from 25 in 2019 to 14 in 2020. The drop not only reflects increased safety standards and awareness in the oil patch but also a 16% decrease in total work hours reported year-over-year.
The safety performance of contributing IOGP member companies in 2020 is based on the analysis of 2,544 million work hours of data. Submissions were made by 48 of the 58 IOGP operating company members. The data reported cover operations in 94 countries. The resulting fatal accident rate (0.55) is 33% lower than last year’s figure (0.82).
The 14 recorded fatalities occurred in 12 separate incidents. The company and contractor fatal accident rates are 0.56 and 0.54, respectively. The onshore and offshore fatal accident rates are 0.42 and 0.92, respectively. The largest proportion of the fatalities reported in 2020 were the result of incidents categorized as "water related, drowning," which accounted for four fatalities in three separate incidents.
The activity with the highest number of fatalities reported by IOGP member companies is "lifting, crane, rigging, deck operations" (29%) with four fatalities as a result of four separate incidents. Three fatalities (21%) were reported in two separate incidents in the "drilling, workover, well services" activity category, and two fatalities in two separate incidents were reported in the "maintenance, inspection, testing" activity category.
The overall total recordable injury rate for 2020 (fatalities, lost workday cases, restricted workday cases, and medical treatment cases) was 0.70, 24% lower than 2019 (0.92). In total, participating companies reported 15,631 days of work lost through injuries.
The overall lost time injury rate was 0.22, 8% lower than 2019 (0.24). The participating IOGP member companies reported 540 lost workday cases (injuries resulting in at least one day off work). Of those, 399 incidents were contractor related while 141 incidents were company related.
The "caught in, under, or between (excluding dropped objects)" category accounted for 99 cases, 18% of the total, in 2020. By comparison, 2019 results showed 115 cases, accounting for 16% of the total.
"Slips and trips (at same height)" also accounted for 99 cases, or 18% of the total. In 2019, there were 159 reported cases, or 23% of the annual total. "Struck by (not dropped object)" accounted for 91 cases, or 17% of the total. For 2019, that category had 132 cases, or 19% of the total.