Report Recommends Focus on Safety Culture in Offshore Drilling Operations

A report from National Research Council recommends that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) take a holistic approach to ensuring the effectiveness of recently mandated safety and environmental management system (SEMS) programs for offshore drilling and production operations. According to the report, "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Offshore Safety and Environmental Management Systems,"  this approach should include inspections, audits by the operator and BSEE, key performance indicators and a whistleblower program.


The recommendations are consistent with BSEE's proposed changes to SEMS with the exception of one change requiring that audits be performed by third parties. According to the report, a truly independent internal audit team is preferred to an external third-party team to avoid a "compliance mentality."


"BSEE should seize this opportunity to make a step change in safety culture," says Kenneth Arnold, chair of the committee that wrote the report. "The bureau can tailor its approach to evaluating the effectiveness of SEMS in order to move both the industry and the government from a culture of relying on punishment only--obtaining prescriptive adherence to pass/failure requirements--to a culture of continuous improvement."