Bud's Offshore Energy (BOE)

The following are the consensus findings and recommendations of the 200 operations, safety, and regulatory specialists who participated in the International Regulators’ Offshore Safety Conference (18-20 October, Vancouver):

• Regulatory regimes function most effectively when a single entity has broad safety and pollution prevention responsibility.  Gaps, overlap, and confusion are not in the interest of safety or regulatory efficiency.
• The regulator’s core responsibilities and objectives must be clearly identified.  Managers must minimize distractions so that regulatory personnel can focus on these objectives.
• Safety management and regulatory priorities should be identified through a comprehensive risk assessment program.   Training and competency development programs should be updated to reflect the new risk information.  Contracting strategies should be reviewed to assess their safety and risk implications.
• Government and industry should promote an improvement mentality, not a compliance mentality. Continuous communication among regulators, operators, contractors, workers, industry associations and public interest groups is essential for continuous improvement.
• Operators and contractors must manage their companies to achieve safety objectives and must continually assess the effectiveness of their management programs. Regulators should challenge industry to resolve potential safety problems rather than seek to resolve the problems for them.
• Regulators should serve as catalysts for learning by distributing information, hosting workshops, participating in research, and identifying gaps in standards and best practices.  Wherever possible, the best standards should be identified and applied internationally.
• Accident investigations should be conducted independently and findings should be promptly and broadly distributed.  Industry or government should maintain comprehensive and verified incident data bases.  Offshore companies should regularly discuss the causes and implications of past accidents with their employees.
• Industry and government cannot rely solely on incident data to identify risks.  New indicators must be explored and assessed, particularly for major hazards and safety culture. Worker input is also essential.
• Peer-based audit programs should be considered for both regulators and operators.
• Industry and regulators should make better use of technology for real time monitoring of safety parameters.
• Sustaining outstanding safety performance is critical to the reputation of industry and government.  All personnel should be trained to be safety leaders and should be empowered to stop work without blame.
• Industry and government should Investigate other actions and programs that might help promote, sustain, and monitor a culture of safety achievement.

This is very good, fundamental guidance for all governments and companies.