Offshore

The Offshore Installations (Offshore Safety Directive) (Safety Case etc.) Regulations 2015 (SCR 2015) apply to oil and gas operations in external waters, that is, the territorial sea adjacent to Great Britain and any designated area within the United Kingdom continental shelf (UKCS). Oil and gas activities in internal waters (such as estuaries) continue to be covered by the earlier regulations, the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005, that the 2015 regulations largely replaced.

The 2015 regulations were enacted in response to an EU directive on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations, adopted following the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. Eleven people died as a result of the explosion, which also caused the worst oil spill in US history.

In July 2023, the RMT transport and maritime union marked the 35th anniversary of the Piper Alpha offshore disaster, when 165 offshore oil and gas workers and two seafarers were killed, with a call for a review of the effectiveness of the safety regime across the entire offshore and maritime sector.

The union called on ministers to respect the memory of Piper Alpha’s victims by delivering the offshore safety culture of continuous improvement recommended by the Cullen report into the disaster.

HSE guidance on these regulations and other legislation applying to the offshore sector can be found on the HSE website.