The Legacy of Piper Alpha 30 Years on: Is the Oil Industry Doing Enough about Process Safety?

摘要

This year (2018) marks the 30 anniversary of Alpha Piper disaster in the North Sea, which is in terms of loss of life, the worst disaster in the history of the offshore oil industry. On the 6th of July 1988, a natural gas condensate leak resulted in explosions and fires that engulfed the Alpha Piper platform and claimed the lives of 167 people. The Alpha Piper tragedy and the subsequent investigations led by Lord Cullen practically reshaped the offshore oil industry. How did the upstream oil industry change since? How did process safety legislation evolve across the world over these years? Is the upstream oil industry doing enough about process safety? If so, why are there still major accidents happening? Is there enough being done to address "Human Factors"? Is process safety legislation adequate in the various major oil producing regions around the world? Or does the development of process safety legislation remain largely in response to major accidents. After a brief review of the Alpha Piper disaster and its impact on the development of process safety legislations around the world, this paper attempts to answer the above questions.