Offshore safety statistics bulletin 2007/8

Published on the HSE website 13 August 2008.

Fatal and major injuries to offshore workers

Figure 1: Fatal and major injuries (1997/1998 – 2007/2008p)

Figure 2: Combined fatal and major injury rate (1997/1998 – 2007/08p)

Based on provisional figures for 2007/08:

• There were no fatalities this year, compared with two in 2006/07 and 2005/06.
• There were 44 major injuries reported during the period, an increase of five over 2006/07;
• There were an estimated 28,132 offshore workers in 2007/08, a decrease of 0.16% on the 2006/07 estimate of 28176 workers. These figures were obtained from an industry-based data source¹.
• The combined fatal and major injury rate increased to 156.41 per 100,000 workers in 2007/08 compared to 145.51 in 2006/7 and 225.4 in 2005/06.

Types of accident

Based on provisional figures for 2007/2008:

• the main causes of major injuries were related to slips/trips/fall (15), being trapped, struck by or striking against equipment (13), or injuries associated with lifts/pulls/pushes/swinging of loads (12) accounting for 91% of the total;
• 21 major injuries were to the upper limb²
• 28 major injuries were due to fracture.³

Over 3-day injuries to offshore workers

Figure 3: Over 3-day injuries (1997/1998 – 2007/2008p)

Figure 4: Over 3-day injury rate (1997/1998 – 2007/2008p)

• The number of reported over-3-day injuries has reduced this year by 16 to 148 (9.8% fall)
• Based on the workforce figure of 28,132 workers, the over-3-day injury rate per 100,000 workers (526.1) shows a 9.6% fall on that recorded for 2007/08 (582.1) and is a new low..
• The over-3-day injury rate has shown a fairly level trend since 2002/03.
  

Types of accident               

Based on provisional figures for 2007/2008:

• Slips, trips and falls, accounted for approx. 25% of over-3-day injuries whilst injuries related to striking or being struck or trapped account for 34%.  Lifting operations, handling of plant, push/pull activities and injuries from body movements  accounted for approx.27%;
• 78 over-3-day injuries (52.4%) resulted in injury to the upper limb⁴;
• 19% of injuries were to parts of the foot and lower limbs and over 14.3% to the back and torso area.

Incidence of ill health to workers offshore

• The total number of cases of offshore ill health reported was 6, a decrease of 14 on the previous year.
• The diseases reported were chickenpox with 4 incidents (down 5 on last year) and decompression related effects with 2 incidents (8 last year).
  

Dangerous occurrences offshore

Figure 5: Dangerous occurrences (1997/1998 – 2007/2008p)

Based on provisional figures for 2007/2008:

• 517 dangerous occurrences (including well incidents) were reported.
• Main types of dangerous occurrences reported were Hydrocarbon releases (40%), fail equipment offshore (23%) fail well (7%) and lift related (7%).

Hydrocarbon releases (HCR's)⁵

Figure 6: Offshore hydrocarbon releases

Based on provisional figures for 2007/08:

(Supplementary data on hydrocarbon releases reported under RIDDOR, upon which Figure 6 is based, are voluntarily reported to HSE by operators on Form OIR/12.  Final figures may be subject to variation depending on when OIR/12 returns are made to HSE)

• The steady reduction in combined major and significant hydrocarbon releases seen up to 2005/6 (73) has levelled off with 2007/08 (74p) showing no improvement over 2006/07 (74).
• The number of minor releases declined in 2006/07 (98) compared to 2005/06 (136), but showed a rise to 112p in 2007/8.
• Overall the number of releases rose in 2007/08 compared to 2006/07 reversing the steady decline in total releases since the peak in 2003/04

A further breakdown of the headline figures contained in this Bulletin will be provided later this year in the annual Offshore Injury and Incident Statistics Report, produced as part of the HID Statistics Report (HSR) series of publications.

1. Provisional data extracted from Vantage system via StepChange in Safety. Back to reference of footnote 1
2. Upper limb includes finger/thumbs, hand, wrist and rest of upper limb. Back to reference of footnote 2
3. Fractures to fingers, thumbs or toes are classed as over-3-day injuries and not as major injuries unless hospitalised over 24 hrs. Back to reference of footnote 3
4. Upper limb includes finger/thumbs, hand, wrist and rest of upper limb. Back to reference of footnote 4
5. Major, Significant and Minor Release Severity Classifications are described on the HSE Website in the Hydrocarbons Release Database HELP facility. Back to reference of footnote 5