International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Life-Saving Rules

Abstract

Abstract In January 2010, the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Safety Data Subcommittee sponsored a two-day Fatal Incident and High-Potential Event workshop. Considering the industry plateau in fatal accident rates over the last five years, the main objectives of the workshop were to focus specifically on causes and prevention of fatal incidents in the upstream oil and gas industry and to recommend actions that might be taken to prevent future fatal incidents. An analysis of historical OGP fatality and high-potential incident reports and a review of existing rules developed by OGP member companies were conducted, contributing to the development of OGP Life-Saving Rules. Several member companies have realized the benefits from implementing their own programs, which have been based on their own fatal incident learning. However, there is a larger potential benefit to be realized in learning from a larger OGP member company's data set and standardization of rules across the industry. Many contractors are required to learn new rules and procedures each time they go to work for a different client, even though the operating practices and risks are very similar. Migrating toward a standard set of industry life-saving rules will improve understanding and compliance, especially in multilingual and multicultural settings, with the aim of reducing serious incidents and fatalities. The OGP Life-Saving Rules provide operational workers and supervisors with simple, clear icons and instructions on the actions that they are expected to take to prevent fatalities. In many fatal incidents, the actions of individuals are the last barrier in fatality prevention. A set of eight core rules and ten additional rules were selected. The 8 core rules correspond to 40% of the fatal incidents analysed, and the full set of 18 rules correspond to 70% of the fatal incidents analysed.