Effective organisation of the offshore workforce remains the key to improving safety, says the union, whose recently merged OILC section was formed as a direct result of the July 6, 1988 disaster.

Despite significant efforts to improve safety and industry-specific regulations imposed after the tragedy and the subsequent inquiry, RMT says that workers are still under the threat of being told they are 'Not Required Back' (NRB) if they raise safety issues.

Enforcement is lax, not least because the number of inspectors has fallen by 40 per cent since 1994, and there is a feeling among parts of the workforce that the Health and Safety Executive's Offshore Division has been 'captured' by the industry, the union says.

"This is an industry in which millions in profits are made by the hour, but also one in which the threat of NRB still hangs over workers who dare to challenge their employers on safety issues," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.

"The Offshore Division of the HSE responsible for enforcing safety standards has dragged its feet on taking formal enforcement action to the extent that many offshore workers see it more as a poodle than a watchdog.

"In more than half the 83 offshore visits they made between 2004 and 2007 the installations were considered to be in a poor physical state, but where is the formal enforcement action?" Bob Crow said.

"In the run-up to Piper hundreds of workers said that it was only a matter of time before a major accident would happen, and the inquiry found that management controls amounted to little more than a 'paper chase'," said RMT offshore organiser Jake Molloy

"Yet several incidents since Piper have avoided major fatalities only through good luck, and in many cases concerns raised by the workforce were ignored or dismissed.

"The industry still needs to learn to engage with and listen to its own workforce, and that dissent is not a threat but a priceless insurance against disaster," Jake Molloy said.

ends

Safety on Offshore Installations

The Health and Safety Executive has an Offshore Division (OSD) responsible for the offshore industry. There are clear concerns over the lack of formal enforcement action that has been brought forward by OSD to tackle shortcomings in safety amongst certain operators within the offshore industry.

The Work and Pension Select Committee recently published a report on the role of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in regulating workplace health and safety, (third report of session 2007/08). The Select Committee, with specific reference to the Offshore Industry, highlighted a report that had been published by HSE in 2007, Key Programme 3: Asset Integrity Programme, which exposed the poor physical condition of safety critical offshore plant.

The programme comprised of 83 visits to offshore installations from 2004 to 2007. In more than half of the installations inspected the physical state of the plant was considered poor. This follows a number of complaints that have been made by OILC/RMT and other industry critics regarding poor maintenance of offshore plant since the late 1990s.

The problems of both under investment, together with the decision to extend the life of many rigs, has left a potentially dangerous work environment for many employed in the sector.

Lack of enforcement action by Offshore Safety Division

The perception amongst much of the workforce is that the Offshore Safety Division (OSD) is a captured regulator.

Whilst OSD have ensured that adequate safety cases are set out by operators there has been a lack of inspection and enforcement activity to ensure that risks in the actual workplace are controlled.

New safety cases containing the same arrangements for control of risks have been accepted from operators who have previously failed to control these risks, and BERR have also awarded new offshore production licences to companies that have failed to honour previous assurances of improvement.

OILC have seen unsafe practices continue for many years. Despite the availability of a range of enforcement measures ranging from formal notices to require that breaches of regulations are remedied and ultimately prosecution, too often inspectors have only followed up with written advice when more rigorous action has clearly been required.

Safety representatives

These are elected by the workforce as opposed to being appointed by trade unions. There are statutory requirements to consult with safety representatives but again the reality on the ground is different.

There are too few properly trained representatives to enable meaningful consultation to take place and often workforce concerns are ignored. The Offshore Safety Directorate of the HSC appear reluctant to take any enforcement action regarding the need to ensure the appointment, training, consultation or victimisation of safety representatives:

In his report following the Piper Alpha tragedy, Lord Cullen stated:

"The representation of the workforce in regard to safety matters is important not merely for what it achieves on installations but also for the effect which it has on the morale of the workforce - in showing that their views are taken into account and that they are making a worthwhile contribution to their own safety."

Unfortunately the Offshore Safety Division of the HSE often hold meetings with oil company and contractor senior management without any workforce involvement.

Number of Inspectors

The Work and Pensions Select Comm also called for the HSE to take urgent steps to reverse a loss of specialist inspectors from its offshore division. The number of OSD Inspectors has fallen from 200 in 1994 to fewer than 120 at the time of the report, (2007/08)

See also:

Rig risks: warnings 'ignored'

Sunday Mirror: 6/07/2008

The oil and gas industry still does not pay enough attention to offshore safety - 20 years after the Piper Alpha disaster killed 167 workers, a union claims.

The RMT says safety enforcement is lax and the number of inspectors has fallen by almost 40 per cent since 1994.

Rmt offshore organiser Jake Molloy said: "Several incidents since Piper have avoided major fatalities only through good luck. In many cases concerns raised were ignored."

Survivors and relatives of people killed when the Piper Alpha oil platform blew up attend a service in Aberdeen today to mark the tragedy's anniversary.

An oil and gas industry spokesman defended the industry's safety record, saying lessons had been learned from the tragedy.