Industry vows to improve safety after 2 North Sea helicopter crashes and gas leak at Elgin platform in 2013

The last twelve months have been a landmark year for Step Change in Safety, the industry-wide safety group which has celebrated its15th year of leading the UK oil and gas industry’s collaborative effort to continuously improve offshore safety performance.

In its review of 2013, SCS said last year not only posed considerable challenges – with two helicopter ditchings and a serious gas leak at the Elgin platform – but was also a year ‘which galvanised our industry’s resolve to tackle serious issues head-on.’

Step Change in Safety is unique – no other industry has such a body. We bring together oil and gas companies, contractor organisations, trade unions, regulators and the workforce to work collaboratively because we all believe the safety of our people always comes before anything else.

Our organisation is comprised of five steering groups which focus on asset integrity, human factors, workforce engagement, competence and helicopter safety.

This annual update reviews the efforts of these groups, the key achievements of our organisation as a whole and how we are meeting our six long-standing goals.

However just because we are meeting our goals does not mean we believe everything is rosy. Despite steady improvements in safety performance over the last 15 years, there are still incidents and we believe that no accident, injury, gas release or fatality is ever acceptable.

There’s still a long road ahead of us and so much more we can do in order to prevent our people getting hurt at their workplace or on their way to and from offshore.

We need everyone connected to the offshore industry to get involved and help Step Change in Safety to continue driving the offshore safety agenda.

Good things have been achieved but we must retain our focus and we need you, your colleagues and your company to continue playing a vital part in this collective effort.

Martin Ellins, Co-chair, Step Change in Safety

Ken Robertson, Co-chair, Step Change in Safety