New U.K. offshore safety regulations-inspired by Lord Cullen's 1990 report spawned by the 1987 Piper Alpha platform accident-will take effect May 31, 1993, for new installations.
The U.K. Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said its proposed regulations, required for operators or owners to gain HSE approval for each fixed or mobile installation, was put before Parliament Nov. 27. That gives opposition parties 40 days to call for debate and possible amendment before the proposals become law.
Harold Hughes, director general of the U.K. Offshore Operators Association, London, said he was confident operators could meet the deadlines for safety case submissions.
The cost of preparing safety cases could total 2-5 billion ($3.2-8 billion), Hughes said. This may not affect the viability of new developments, he said, but it could hasten closure of some older fields.
SAFETY CASES
The new rules require operators and owners to gain HSE approval of a safety case document for each fixed or mobile installation.
Safety cases must contain details of health and safety management, independent safety audits, identification of potential hazards, and risk assessments for each installation. A safety case will apply to each stage of a project, from design through installation and commissioning to operation.
Even when an installation is fully operational, new safety cases will be required for drilling programs, combined operations such as tender assisted drilling, major modifications to existing installations, and decommissioning and abandonment.
Operators of existing installations have until Nov. 30, 1993, to submit safety cases. A 2 year period ending Nov. 30, 1995, will allow operators and HSE to sort out problems with safety cases for existing installations.
"The transitional period up to Nov. 30, 1995, is not meant to allow for late submissions," said Tony Barrell, chief executive of HSE's offshore safety division (OSD). "It is to give time for HSE to assess safety cases, and for agreement to be reached on any necessary improvements before acceptance can be given. Any company that submits late runs the risk that the HSE will be unable to complete its assessment by the deadline, beyond which installations may not operate without an accepted safety case."
CHANGES
About 100 responses since draft proposals were published in February have led to some amendments. Heavy lift vessels and individual well operations do not require individual safety cases, as was first suggested. They must now be covered in the main installation's safety case.
"Another change is that the requirements concerning temporary refuge have been made more flexible," said Sir John Cullen, chairman of the Health & Safety Commission (HSC), for which HSE is the operational arm. "For every installation, the safety case will need to show that, in the event of an incident escalating beyond immediate control, the work force will be protected for long enough for the emergency to be assessed, controls applied, and where appropriate, full and safe evacuation to be carried out."
Revised guidance, published by HSE to accompany the new regulations, "makes clear that for larger installations with many personnel, temporary refuge will normally best be provided for by the accommodation. "At the same time we have acknowledged the need for special approaches in certain areas. In particular, the guidance recognizes that where the platform area is small, with large risers or wells, the emphasis may be better placed on provision for rapid evacuation by safe and reliable means, than by attempting to protect structures to a standard that will resist assault by fire for a long time."
Copyright 1992 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
