Health & Safety Report 2013

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2013

7 Step Change in Safety

In the last year, Step Change in Safety celebrated 15 years of leading the UK oil and gas industry’s collaborative effort to continuously improve offshore safety.

Its method is simple. It focuses on doing a small number of things but doing them really well, engaging with the workforce at all levels, driving implementation of Step Change principles across the industry and ensuring strong leadership. Step Change in Safety is unique – no other industry has such a body. It brings together oil and gas companies and contractors, trade unions, regulators and the workforce. Its leadership team also features direct involvement from elected safety representatives. Five steering groups focus on asset integrity, human factors, workforce engagement, competence and helicopter safety. Initiatives include setting HCR reduction targets, delivering continuous improvement and launching innovative means of measuring safety culture, such as using the Workforce Engagement Toolkit. Hydrocarbon Release Reduction Step Change in Safety’s Asset Integrity Steering Group co-ordinated the industry-wide effort to reduce the numbers of HCRs (see section 2.3.1). The last year has seen:

• Guidance published on what a good hydrocarbon release reduction plan looks like, using best practice 20 • Mechanical joint integrity guidance published with an accompanying e-learning course 21

Safety Culture The launch in 2012 of the Workforce Engagement Toolkit 22 is one of the highlights of Step Change’s 15-year history. It was developed out of the recognition that good workforce engagement leads to a better worksite safety culture and therefore fewer accidents. The toolkit helps companies:

• Measure and compare engagement levels at worksites • Understand strengths and weaknesses and develop improvement plans

20 The HCR Reduction guidance can be found on the Step Change in Safety website at: http://www.stepchangeinsafety.net/knowledgecentre/publications/publication.cfm/publicationid/95 21 The Mechanical Joint Integrity guidance can be found on the Step Change in Safety website at: http://www.stepchangeinsafety.net/knowledgecentre/publications/publication.cfm/publicationid/86 22 Workforce Engagement: A Practical Guide can be found on the Step Change in Safety website at: http://www.stepchangeinsafety.net/knowledgecentre/publications/publication.cfm/publicationid/96

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