The Safety Case regime represents a significant milestone on the road to safer operations in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS). It has affected all of the service companies, drilling contractors, and oil companies with operations in the UKCS. Some other countries are also adopting this same regime. Safety issues will no longer be addressed in the same way as they were in the past. The Safety Case has had a major impact on the way safety is managed both offshore and onshore, and this impact has been felt in our operations. This paper will explain the actions taken, the achievements made, and where relevant, will provide comments on several of the problems encountered.

Three of the main areas addressed in the Safety Case will be reviewed. These areas are Safety Management Systems (SMS), Escape and Evacuation, and Hazard Analysis. The overall risks emanating from these can then be quantified and compared against onshore risks.

Keywords:
responsibility, philosophy, society of petroleum engineers, rig, sms, drilling contractor, incident, spe 27293, personnel, operational safety
Subjects:
HSSE & Social Responsibility Management, Safety, HSSE management systems, Operational safety, Safety risk management
Copyright 1994, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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