Risk Perception and Safety in the UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industry

This paper presents a selection of the final results from a study of risk perception and safety attitudes in workers on UKCS offshore oil and gas platforms, which was sponsored by the HSE Offshore Safety Division, Amerada Hess, British Gas, BP, Conoco, Elf Enterprise and Total Oil Marine. The study was designed in conjunction with Dr Rundmo of Trondheim University who was carrying out a matched survey with Norwegian offshore workers for the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate`. A representative sample of 622 UKCS workers on six production platforms were surveyed about their job characteristics, perceived risks, safety attitudes, safety satisfaction, accidents and injuries and the Safety Case. The results indicate that the relative feelings of safety in relation to major hazards (e.g. explosion, blow-out) are aligned with QRA calculations. In general, the workforce feel safe but are aware of the hazards in their environment. Further analyses and statistical modelling indicates that organizational factors (e.g. management commitment to safety, safety attitudes) have the greatest direct effect on workers perception of risk and their satisfaction with safety measures. The British and Norwegian data sets are now being merged and preliminary findings will be mentioned. To explore the emerging issues further, a new studymore » on human factors in UK offshore safety has just been launched with the support of OSD, OCA and six operating and contractor companies. A brief outline will be presented.« less