![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/BK201807.jpg)
Offshore
[ch 5: page 95]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.
HSE guidance on these regulations and other legislation applying to the offshore sector can be found on the HSE website (www.hse.gov.uk/offshore).
30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster
On the night of 6 July 1988, a series of explosions and fires destroyed the Piper Alpha offshore oil platform off the Scottish coast, killing 165 of the 225 workers on board, as well as two rescue crew members.
Maritime union RMT general secretary Mike Cash said it was “shocking” that 30 years on from the Piper Alpha disaster, the safety of offshore workers is once again under pressure from a combination of poor industrial relations, transport safety and enforced shift patterns and job losses “designed to prop up the profit margins of the energy companies”.
Thirty-three offshore workers and crew have been killed, and 65 rescued from the North Sea, as a result of a series of incidents since 2009, all involving Super Puma H225 or AS332 L2 helicopter models. These were banned from flying in the UK after a fatal crash in Norway in 2016, but in 2017 the Civil Aviation Authority announced plans to lift the ban. By January 2018, around 10,000 workers had signed a petition organised by general union Unite opposing their return, making clear they have no confidence in this mode of transport.
The 2018 Scottish TUC Congress (STUC) called on MSPs, Scottish MPs, and the Scottish and Westminster governments to mark the 30th anniversary in accordance with Lord Cullen’s public inquiry recommendation for an offshore safety culture of continuous improvement by holding a public inquiry into helicopter safety.