Safety Cases
Since the UK left the EU, the Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR) is the UK's Offshore Competent Authority (previously known as the Offshore Safety Directive Regulator (OSDR). How HSE regulate the offshore industry stays the same.
Competent Authority Portal ('CAP'): Industry user guidance
EU Directive (2013/30/EU) on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations requires Member States to set up a Competent Authority (CA) to oversee Industry compliance with the Directive and to undertake certain related functions such as accepting and/or assessing relevant submissions and inspecting relevant notifications.
The CA functions are delivered by the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) (part of the Department for Energy, Security and Net Zero) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) working in partnership. The partnership formed for this purpose by OPRED and HSE is formally known as the Offshore Major Accident Regulator (OMAR). OMAR agreed to develop an online portal for the submission of documents by the industry and for the CA to carry out its functions as required under the Directive.
The following guide provides information on submitting safety cases, material changes and thorough reviews to OMAR using the CAP.
Guidance for using the portal to submit safety cases, material changes and thorough reviews
The following guide provides information on using CAP to transfer assets between duty holders
CAP Industry User Guidance for Asset Transfer
Assessment Principles for Offshore Safety Cases (APOSC) sets out the principles against which OMAR assesses safety cases
The following framework diagram describes the process by which OMAR will assess safety cases.
- Framework Diagram – Safety Case Assessment
- Resolving differences of professional judgement and finely balanced decisions framework diagram
Topic specialist assessment templates have been developed for all topic disciplines for use by OMAR topic specialists to assist in the assessment of safety cases.
Dutyholders are asked to complete, as a minimum, the Safety Case Initial Review template, which significantly speeds up the assessment process. Dutyholders are also strongly encouraged to complete other topic discipline templates, as experience has found this speeds up the assessment process further, and improves the quality of regulatory submissions.