Review of Offshore Injury and Incident Statistics: 1991 to 2006
There were two fatalities offshore in 2006/07, compared with two in 2005/06, none in 2004/05 and three in 2003/04. There were 39 major injuries reported during the period — a 22% decrease on 2005/06. HSE Statistics
Fatal and major injuries offshore increased from 1995 to 1998. From 1999 onwards the fatal and major injury rates progressively decreased but it was not until 2006 that rates reduced to the levels approaching those last seen in 1995.
The use of injury and incident statistics as a fundamental measure of the effectiveness of various measures to promote safety is well established. Both the HSE Offshore Safety Division and the industry in the form of Step Change accept that the statistics for injury rates are an important indicator of their success in discharging their duty under UK law to control risks of injury to workers to the lowest reasonably practicable level.
The HSE and Step Change have a target of making the UK offshore oil and gas industry the safest upstream operation in the world by 2010 when compared against lost time injury rates reported by the IAOGP (International Association of Oil and Gas Producers).
OILC supports all endeavours to make the UKCS safer but argues here that this is not the target that should be adopted. Important differences in reporting systems make UK, Norwegian and IAOGP data not directly comparable. Instead we suggest that the numerical target should be to reduce the rate of fatal and major injuries to below the rates last found in the UKCS in 1995. In this way a credible assessment may be made of the effectiveness of the UK offshore regulatory regime.