Health & Safety Report 2017

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2017

Hydrocarbon Releases The HSE has collated data on hydrocarbon releases (HCRs) within the offshore oil and gas industry since 1996, following the recommendation of the Cullen Report. However, the EU Implementing Regulation, which came into force as part of the EU Offshore Safety Directive in July 2015, has changed the criteria for what is considered a reportable release. During the transitional period and until all installations have transferred to the new Safety Case Regulations (SCR) by July 2018, the industry in effect has a dual reporting regime for HCRs. Some installations are still required to report under the 2005 SCR and some under 2015, and although it is possible for operators to choose to follow the 2015 reporting requirements prior to transition of the Safety Case, there has been no standard industry approach.

In order to keep the data comparable over time, the 2016 HCRs reported below are those which, irrespective of the regime under which they were reported, meet the RIDDOR criteria in the regulator’s opinion 9 .

In addition, changes to the reporting and classification of non-process releases (i.e. unintentional release of fluids such as diesel or hydraulic fluid) in 2014 and 2015 means that a direct comparison year-on-year is not straightforward across the dataset.

The graphs below separate out the process and non-process releases for historical data to the present day. Process-related releases (release of produced hydrocarbons) are the significant performance indicator.

Figure 10: Number of Hydrocarbon Releases Occurring Offshore*

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Non-Process Releases Process Releases All Releases Rolling Three-Year Average Non-Process Rolling Three-Year Average Process Rolling Three-Year Average All

250

200

150

100

Number of Hydrocarbon Releases

50

0

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

*Excludes ten unclassified releases

Source: Health and Safety Executive

9 See www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/1471/schedule/2/made

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