Failures in effective process safety leadership/process safety management can be linked to historical Major Accident Hazard (MAH) events such as Piper Alpha, Buncefield and Texas City amongst others. In 2018, HSE flagged concerns about the offshore industry regarding stagnating safety performance and challenged the industry to respond, leading to the adoption of the Principles of Process Safety Leadership (PPSL).
In January 2022, the HSE Energy Division initiated a targeted inspection program across a sample of the UKCS production operators to assess how the industry had responded to the challenge laid out in 2018. 13 operators were inspected by the end of the inspection program in May 2024 with an additional inspection conducted in October 2024. The organizations sampled covered the range of operating models in the UKCS and the different types of installations in use. Inspections were conducted using established HSE guidance on Major Hazard Leadership and carried out by a dedicated core team to ensure consistency of approach and comparison of performance. Benchmarking of Duty Holders against their industry peers was not conducted, and neither were scores assigned.
As a collective, industry demonstrated a strong understanding of the importance of effective process safety leadership and there were examples of good practice observed. There were however several consistent themes from the programme, all of which have room for improvement. The themes were not unique to individual organisations and there is potential for industry collaboration on certain areas to drive improvement.
Strengths