Report Urges a 'System Safety' Approach to Offshore Drilling

The National Academies released a new report urging companies involved in offshore drilling to take a “system safety" approach to anticipating and managing possible dangers at every level of operation. The approach should combine strong industry safety goals with mandatory oversight at critical points during drilling operations, the report states. Operating companies should have ultimate responsibility and accountability, and the drilling contractor should be held responsible for the operation and safety of the offshore equipment. In addition to expanding the formal education and training of personnel, the report says that guidelines should be established so that well designs incorporate protection against the various credible risks associated with the drilling and abandonment process. Competent authority should review cemented and mechanical barriers designed to contain the flow of hydrocarbons in wells, it adds. The SEMS program is a good first step toward an enhanced regulatory approach, the report states, adding that regulators should identify and enforce safety-critical points that warrant explicit regulatory review and approval before operations can proceed. The study comes in light of the aftermath of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which showed that multiple flawed decisions led to a blowout and explosion that killed 11 workers and produced the biggest accidental oil spill in U.S. history.