International liaison

HSE works with a number of international bodies to enable regulators to exchange information about:

• offshore health and safety trends
• industry health and safety performance
• lessons from incident
• industry best practice
• regulatory practice
• measuring the effectiveness of regulatory activities

We provide a network of offshore petroleum health and safety experts for mutual support and advice when required.

Current international liaison

Current international liaison includes:

• International Regulators Forum: IRF comprises nine states that produce offshore oil and gas - USA, Canada, Brazil, Netherlands, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and the UK. IRF shares knowledge and information of safety issues and global company performance. The group meets annually and corresponds throughout the year sharing issues of concern and raising awareness of best practice.  IRF are holding an extraordinary offshore safety Summit Conference in Stavanger on 4 and 5 October 2011. Further details are available from the IRF conference website.
• Bilaterals: We have regular bilaterals with major producing neighbours. We have effective links with the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority through the UK/Norwegian Special Working Group. The meetings allow us to exchange information and develop common positions on cross-border issues. We plan a new UK/Norway Treaty is planned to encourage closer links. We also hold annual meetings with the Danish Energy Authority and the Dutch State Supervision of Mines, to facilitate agreement on cross-border issues.
• North Sea Offshore Authorities Forum (NSOAF): NSOAF has representatives from Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. It meets annually to exchange information and develop common positions and joint initiatives. NSOAF is working to reduce the difficulties due to differences in regulatory regimes and requirements, for example to make it easier to move rigs between North Sea countries, and to harmonise safety training standards.
• NSOAF Multi-National Audit Project Supervision: Supervision is a critical management function within companies and a key element in effective risk control and management of health and safety. Historical accident data has shown that poor or inadequate supervision was considered to be a significant factor in accident causation both for individual and major hazard risk. The NSOAF plenary meeting agreed in 2007 to mandate a project team to conduct a theme audit on this subject.
  
  The NSOAF multi-national audit project 'Supervision' was carried out during the period 2008 to early 2009 in Denmark, Netherlands, Norway and the United Kingdom by national audit teams. Thirteen offshore production installations were visited, involving eight operators. After the completion of the offshore visits, interviews with onshore senior line management were conducted. The final audit report reflects the findings from the offshore visits and meetings with onshore senior managers. HSE is pleased to share the audit report findings with the offshore industry in the hope that they will consider taking the following actions:
  • discuss the report main findings and audit follow-up initiatives throughout their organisations;
  • facilitate lateral learning between their own organisation/business and others so that supervision best practice is widely shared;
  • ensure adequate management and supervisory knowledge of safety barriers in their organisations in order to minimise the risk of serious occupational and major hazard accidents;
  for the North Sea area trade associations to contribute in the industry wide follow-up initiatives such as facilitating the development of a 'toolkit for worksite visits' and the promulgation of audit findings at offshore workforce events and through their various publications and web sites.
  
  There will be an opportunity for both the operators and the trade associations to demonstrate, during the second NSOAF Conference on 27 April 2010 in Aberdeen, what has been done with the audit key challenges (see chapter 5. Audit conclusions), to improve supervision in the E&P industry.
• European Union: In recent years most health and safety legislation has been introduced to implement European directives, mainly to promote minimum standards for health and safety of workers, but also to maintain the single market or protect the environment. There is now a body of EU health and safety law, the basis of which is the Framework Directive, which established broad obligations for employers to avoid and reduce risks in the workplace. We will work with other member states to ensure standards are appropriate for the UK and offshore.
• International Committee On Regulatory Authority Research And Development (ICRARD): IRCARD is dedicated to disseminating knowledge in the area of health, safety and environment in the petroleum sector. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, The Netherlands, UK, and the USA are members. See the ICRARD website for further details.