Personal Injury Is Not A Good Indicator Of Offshore Drilling Safety [REPORT]

Posted in Deepwater Horizon,Gulf Coast on July 23, 2012

Offshore drillers in the U.S. are relying on the wrong set of data in its quest to prevent major accidents like the Deepwater Horizon blowout, says the U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s investigation of the 2010 incident.  

According to the agency groups findings, offshore oil and gas drillers in the United States put too much emphasis on offshore personal injury occurrences while neglecting better indicators of danger including the release of oil or gas, “kicks” and equipment maintenance schedules.  The CSB also says that the United States offshore-energy business is far behind North Sea and other exploration areas as far as operating procedures go.

“Personal-injury data can give a misleading picture of the safety of an operation since those accidents typically don’t correspond to major accidents,” said Don Holmstrom, the agency’s lead investigator. “Areas such as incident investigation, change management and equipment maintenance need to be a focus over and above personal injury and prevention.”

The CSB is in Houston this week is providing the preliminary findings into its report into the Deepwater Horizon disaster.  While the CSB is better known for its investigations into accidents at chemical plants and refineries, a Congressional committee has tasked the agency to compare the Deepwater Horizon disaster to the lethal 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery despite mounting pressure from drillers who have argued that the agency is operating outside it’s jurisdiction.  In the case of the 2005 Texas City explosion, the agency’s report led to a number of widespread changes to the petrochemical industry.

Most notably, the industry’s emphasis on personal injuries was highlighted when Transocean reported 2010 as its “best year in safety performance” in history, despite the blowout that killed 11 and led to the United States’ largest ever oil spill.

“Notwithstanding the tragic loss of life in the Gulf of Mexico, we achieved an exemplary statistical safety record,” Transocean stated in a filing on executive pay. Based on the total rate of incidents and their severity, “we recorded the best year in safety performance in our company’s history.”