Challenges in managing emergency offshore: A comparison of offshore and onshore perspectives

Abstract

Three segments, which are the upstream, midstream, and downstream, make up the oil and gas business. At each stage of these oil and gas operations, there are differences in hazard and risk management that affect emergency management. Offshore emergency management presents more challenges compared to onshore emergency management, this is largely due to the remote and harsh environment, limited resources, and potential risk to human lives. The type of emergency also affects the level of challenge faced by offshore and onshore emergency management. The Covid-19 pandemic has had a major impact on effective emergency management in the oil and gas industry, requiring companies to adapt and adjust their emergency response plans, procedures, and technology to ensure the safety of personnel and the public while maintaining effective emergency management capabilities. The main objective of this study is to identify the challenges of emergency management and compare the offshore and onshore emergency management processes based on the element of effective emergency management. Document review using the PRISMA analysis was applied to compare offshore and onshore emergency management based on a review of 22 articles. The PRISMA analysis identified 22 relevant studies that covered a range of topics related to emergency management, including command structures, planning and information management, communication, situation awareness, and resources and logistics. Thereafter, the face validity method was used to examine the perspective of 10 emergency management professionals to validate these findings. Offshore and onshore facilities both possess different risks in emergency situations. Based on the results, it is essential to manage command structure, planning, information management, communication, situation awareness, resources, and logistics during disaster response and recovery stages. These five elements are critical to emergency management. Both offshore and onshore emergency management have their own unique challenges in resource constraints, weather conditions, accessibility and communication.