Practical Lessons from Major Accidents
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Greetings!
This edition of the Practical Lessons Bulletin illustrates the importance of inherently safe design and a strong safety culture to preventing deadly major accident events. As always, we value any feedback. Feedback from the last issue came by way of corrections: - SPE refers to the Society of Petroleum Engineers, not the Society of Professional Engineers
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T he Piper Alpha incident occurred in 1988, not 1976 (the year that production started)
- Norway does not have a safety case regime; however, Norway's Petroleum Safety Authority does require that operators conduct the same type of safety assessments as those used in safety cases and keep the documentation accessible in the event the PSA requests them (see January 2010 interview with Magne Ognedal, PSA's Director General).
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| Practical Lessons From Major Accidents |
|  Herald of Free Enterprise Vacationers returning to the U.K. from holiday on the European continent did not suspect that they would soon be struggling for survival. The Herald of Free Enterprise is known as the worst maritime disaster involving a British registered ship in peacetime since 1919. The lessons learned can be applied across industries. Read more. |
| ERM Risk Practice Calendar |
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Date To Be Determined, 2010
Executive Briefing: The New Operating Environment for Oil & Gas. In the ERM Risk Group's breakfast seminar format, we will discuss the changing playing field for upstream developments in the Gulf of Mexico.
Dates To Be Determined, 2011
Two-day workshop: Creating a Safety Case.
The July 22 and August 26 seminars, Introduction to Safety Cases, were attended by more than 100 industry professionals. Many attendees asked for a more detailed, longer workshop-type session, which is now in its planning stages. Watch for a future announcement for a 2011 event.
SPE Great Debate Presentations Available
Nearly 90 interested industry professionals attended the September 16 SPE Event, The Great Debate: A Safety Case Regime for U.S. Offshore Drilling? The moderated discussion posed some tough questions to leaders of industry associations, the drilling industry, oil and gas exploration, and safety case experts.
The event was sponsored by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Gulf Coast Chapter, Safety and Environment Study Group. The ERM Risk Practice participated: Malcolm Hutton and Kevin Kinsella were moderator and speaker, respectively.
Give Us Your Feedback
Your feedback about our education events is always appreciated and helps us continually improve. |
| Gulf of Mexico Updates |
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Drilling Safety Legislation Pending
Two federal legislative bills propose regulatory measures to improve safety of offshore drilling, including initiation of safety cases.
U.S. Senate Bill S.3516 the Outer Continental Shelf Act of 2010 was introduced in June 2010 and is now on the Senate Legislative Calendar.
U.S. House Bill HR 3534 Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009 was introduced in September 2009. It was amended in and passed passed the House in July 2010 and is now with the Senate.
API Hosts Joint Industry Task Force (JITF) Presentations
A Well Construction Interface Document (WCID) guideline has been drafted by a JITF for recommendation to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEMRE). If U.S. regulators adopt a safety case regime for deepwater drilling, a WCID will be a well operator's bridging document to the rig contractor's safety case.
The concepts of safety cases, WCIDs, and how they work together were explained in free breakfast seminar-type meetings September 23 (Houston), 28 (Lafayette), and 29 (New Orleans). The meetings were hosted by the API and presentations were made by members of the WCID Development Team, subteam of the Joint Industry Task Force. The API and the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) plan to jointly present the WCID guideline to DOI and BOEMRE.
The overall message about the proposed WCID, from moderator Robert Thompson, was "we're doing most of this already."
The latest (2009) IADC HSE Case Guidelines (for offshore and onshore facilities) are on the IADC's website.
DOI Interim Final Report
This DOI report covering regulatory recommendations was expected to be issued on or about September 27. When it is issued, the next Practical Lessons Bulletin will provide a link to it. It is expected that comments will be accepted on the interim report before the final report is issued. |
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Morris Burch, Partner
 North America Risk Practice
Environmental Resources Management Southwest, Inc. 15810 Park Ten Place, Suite 300
Houston TX 77084
telephone: 281.600.1000
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