UK: New Safety Case Regulations for the offshore oil and gas industry

The Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 (OSCR) come into force on 6^th April 2006. OSCR will replace the previous 1992 Regulations, subject to a number of transitional arrangements.

OSCR and its predecessor form the cornerstone of Lord Cullen’s recommendations flowing from the Piper Alpha Inquiry. Lord Cullen recommended that every operator or owner of every offshore installation should be required to prepare and submit a safety case to the HSE for acceptance.

The HSE has issued a new draft of its " guide to the offshore installations (safety case) regulations 2005" to replace the previous HSE guide that accompanied the 1992 Regulations. The consultation period for the draft guide has recently closed and we can expect the final version of the guide to be issued on or before 6^th April 2006. A copy of the guide can be viewed on the HSE’s website by clicking here.

The Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 (OSCR) come into force on 6^th April 2006. OSCR will replace the previous 1992 Regulations, subject to a number of transitional arrangements.

OSCR and its predecessor form the cornerstone of Lord Cullen’s recommendations flowing from the Piper Alpha Inquiry. Lord Cullen recommended that every operator or owner of every offshore installation should be required to prepare and submit a safety case to the HSE for acceptance.

The HSE has issued a new draft of its " guide to the offshore installations (safety case) regulations 2005" to replace the previous HSE guide that accompanied the 1992 Regulations. The consultation period for the draft guide has recently closed and we can expect the final version of the guide to be issued on or before 6^th April 2006. A copy of the guide can be viewed on the HSE’s website by clicking here.

The main differences between OSCR and the 1992 Regulations are:

• Under the 1992 Regulations a safety case lasted for 3 years and had to be resubmitted for acceptance. Under OSCR the safety case will last for the life of the installation and there will no longer be a requirement for routine re-submission. However OSCR imposes a duty to revise the safety case as appropriate. There will be a new duty to perform a thorough review every 5 years or as directed by the HSE. If the HSE directed revision is unacceptable, the HSE will have the power to suspend the safety case. If the duty holder makes material changes to the safety case these will need to be submitted to the HSE and must be accepted by the HSE.

• The 1992 Regulations required a Combined Operations Safety Case (COSC) before any combined operation took place. This will no longer be necessary under OSCR. Instead the COSC will be replaced by a simpler notification with the requirement that the safety case includes a generic description of the management of combined operations.

• Under the 1992 Regulations the duty holder was required to submit a Design Safety Case (DSC) to the HSE before a new fixed design was completed. The DSC had to be accepted by the HSE. Under OSCR this will be replaced by a simpler earlier design notification. The design notification does not need to be accepted by the HSE but the duty holder will be required to take proper account of the HSE’s comments. This will also apply to some conversions.

• The 1992 Regulations required the duty holder to submit an Abandonment Safety Case (ASC) before it commence with decommissioning a fixed installation. OSCR now requires the duty holder to revise the existing safety case giving details of each phase of the decommissioning process. This must be submitted to and accepted by the HSE.

• OSCR will require the duty holder to summarise in the safety case how they consulted safety representatives on preparing, reviewing or revising the safety case.

• There are a series of new definitions in OSCR. References to fixed and mobile installations have generally been replaced by "production" and "non-production" installations.

• OSCR provides a new definition of an installation operator. The operator of a production installation (i.e. the primary duty holder) is now defined as the person appointed by the licensees to manage the day-to-day control of the main functions of the installation (or the licensee if there is no appointment). The licensee has a duty to monitor the appointed operator to ensure that he carries out his functions satisfactorily. If the HSE believes that the person appointed is incapable of satisfactorily carrying out their legal duties the duty to submit the safety case and all other duties withh revert to the licensees.

• Under the 1992 Regulations the safety case had to demonstrate that major hazard risks were "as low as is reasonably practicable" (ALARP). Under OSCR the safety case must demonstrate that major hazard risks have been indentified and evaluated and that in respect of this, the relevant statutory provisions will be complied with. In practice the ALARP standard remains except where the law requires a stronger standard.

• OSCR has introduced a right of appeal to the Secretary of State if the duty holder is dissatisfied with an HSE decision.

• OSCR has introduced a combined written and verification scheme which were previously separate requirements under the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995.

This article was written for Law-Now, CMS Cameron McKenna's free online information service. To register for Law-Now, please go to www.law-now.com/law-now/mondaq

The original publication date for this article was 23/02/2006.