Enhancing Offshore Safety Culture Through Continuous Management of Barriers and Success Paths

Abstract

Abstract Safety culture is a critical factor for reducing risks for offshore drilling and production operations. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued a Safety Culture Policy Statement based on "Nine Characteristics of a Robust Safety Culture" providing guidance for safety culture programs. Similar programs are implemented in other industries including nuclear, commercial aviation, space operations, and maritime. Many of these programs are based on abstract concepts including management leadership, safety attitudes, and personal accountability that can't demonstrate a direct, measurable influence on major accident risk. A complementary approach has been developed based on the premise that the most effective way to reduce major accident risks and enhance safety culture is to provide workers the information and tools they need to make correct decisions and take correct actions to prevent and mitigate major accidents. The critical issue is to provide information to assess safety barrier health and make correct decisions and implement corrective actions when barriers are degraded or failed. The approach uses bow tie diagrams to identify and monitor barriers for preventing and mitigating accidents, success paths to restore degraded barriers, and information requirements analysis to continuously assess barrier and success path health. Decision criteria specify when corrective actions are needed and provide clear guidance for actions that are required for implementing alternative success paths. This approach has been used to develop decision support systems for offshore drilling and production operations, and to assess safety culture and control room management for nuclear power plant and pipeline operations. This paper summarizes lessons learned from major accidents in the nuclear, aerospace, and offshore industries. The Decision Support for Dynamic Barrier Management approach is described, and experience gained from application of the approach to nuclear power plants, pipeline operations, and offshore drilling and production are described. Finally, the potential benefits of the approach for enhancing safety culture for offshore operations are summarized.