"Working together to solve health and safety challenges"
What we mean by shared research
HSE has a longstanding history of supporting science and research to address a range of cross-sector health and safety issues.
Building on this heritage, we provide a platform to identify and co-fund applied research projects that are of interest to both industry and regulatory bodies.
This allows resources and expertise to be shared for the benefit of all.
Contributing partners can help to shape the research activity and get exclusive early sight of the results. This allows them to improve their management of emerging health and safety challenges in their business, assured of alignment with HSE priorities.
Types of shared research
Shared research is commissioned and managed through an appropriate range of commercial relationships, depending on the scale of activity and involvement. These include the following.
Partnerships
Partnerships are long term relationships with individual clients, who share key organizational objectives with HSE and covering a large suite of work, addressing joint topics of concern over a number of years.
Programmes
Centred on relevant cross-cutting themes, which impact both the regulator and regulated. Offered on a single or multi-client basis, programmes would run over a number of years and consist of a series of linked activities or projects around identified topic areas.
Projects
These have a defined aim and objectives, designed to address a specific research question in a clearly defined time frame. Projects would either be offered on an individual or multi-client basis.
Research club memberships
These provide a mechanism to support smaller organisations and to increase the reach of the findings of research undertaken via the mechanisms described above as well as for the findings of HSE-specific research and HSE operational support activities.
How shared research works
We run a number of research projects. Each project begins with a recognised gap in knowledge that HSE and industry stakeholders see a need to fill, to help us understand and ultimately better manage health and safety challenges.
We then invite regulatory, industry and other stakeholders to discuss the idea in more detail and put together a research project that will help improve our collective understanding and knowledge. The project is led by HSE experts, often making use of the facilities provided by our science and research centre in Buxton.
Industry and other stakeholders are then invited to contribute towards funding the research project. HSE also supports the projects financially. Typically, we will seek several sponsoring organisations to ensure we can undertake the best research to answer the health and safety needs we've all identified.
Active shared research projects
Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
Seeking active sponsors
CUI is prevalent on plant both on and offshore, including nuclear and chemical plants, oil refineries and offshore installations.
Developments in coatings, insulation materials, cladding systems and installation practices have led to some improvements, however the unpredictable nature of CUI, combined with the associated difficulties of inspecting for and subsequently detecting anomalies, makes ongoing integrity management extremely challenging.
Consequently, CUI continues to represent a major safety threat, having been responsible for a number of major hydrocarbon releases and presenting industry with a range of business assurance/continuity challenges that carry with them significant costs each year.
This project considers CUI from a lifecycle perspective. Through an empirical work programme, the aim is to further develop our knowledge and understanding, resulting in safer, more reliable and efficient operations.
Studying the Safety Critical Offshore Application of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic Engineered Composite Repairs (ECRs)
Register interest
In 2020 a Shared Research Project (ECR1) sponsored by HSE, operators and repair suppliers was completed. ECR1 focused on a number of key areas such as: quality assurance and integrity management; inspection; in-service performance; and human factors. This resulted in the release of an industry-leading Good Practice Guide.
Whilst ECR1 represented a significant step forward, both HSE and industry recognise that there are still knowledge gaps associated with the long-term integrity of composite repairs.
ECR2 will seek to build on the learnings of ECR1 through a detailed evaluation of recently decommissioned repairs from a safety critical application.
Further work towards area classification for oil mists (MISTS2)
In progress
Mists of high-flashpoint fluids such as hydraulic oils, lubricating oils, diesel and heavier fuels can ignite and produce explosions at temperatures below their flashpoints.
There is a legal requirement to consider hazardous area classification for flammable mists. Whilst area classification for explosive gases is well established, available guidance for flammable mists is limited, brief and largely qualitative when it comes to controls for such risks.
Following on from a successful joint research project on the formation and mitigation of flammable mists [MISTS1], this current project seeks to further develop our knowledge and understanding of the formation and mitigation of flammable mists.
Contact us
For more information, contact us.