BSEE slates risk reduction initiatives

During the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, Texas, Brian Salerno, the director of the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, announced two initiatives that his agency has introduced to reduce the risks associated with offshore oil and gas operations. The first of these initiatives is a program called SafeOCS, aimed at collecting near miss data as a means of identifying safety trends and increasing awareness of offshore risk. The second initiative is the launch of BSEE’s new annual report, a presentation of the agency’s offshore activities, together with data relating to issues such as trends, indicators and incidents, BSEE says.

SafeOCS comes as part of an effort by BSEE to identify all available methods to learn about the causes of serious offshore incidents.

“I strongly encourage participation in the system by the entire offshore community as a way to help improve the overall safety posture of the industry,” Salerno said. “Shared awareness of safety trends will better equip everyone to focus on the right things and thereby drive down the risk of serious incidents.”

The Bureau of Transportation Statistics will collect and analyze near-miss reports submitted by workers, companies and others engaged in outer continental shelf activities, BSEE says. Aggregated data will then be shared with the general public through the bureau’s website, the agency says.

BSEE’s annual report summarizes oil and gas activities from the past year, makes comparisons with previous years and describes trends which BSEE has identified, BSEE says. The report also outlines BSEE current initiatives and the agency’s risk reduction plans for the coming year, the agency says.

- Alan Bailey