Step Change in Safety

Step Change in Safety is the UK based partnership with the remit to make the UK the safest Oil and Gas Exploration and Production province in the world by 2010.  The unique Step Change in Safety initiative was launched in 1997 in recognition that progress in reducing accidents and injuries had begun to plateau in the UK offshore oil and gas sector.  Since its launch, safety performance has improved steadily and Step Change has become recognised world wide because of the quality of its guidance and approach to safety improvement.  

Uniquely at the time of the launch, industry leaders, representatives from trade associations, trade unions and the government regulator agreed that enhanced co-operation between all was the way forward.  A commitment was made to work in partnership, sharing safety information and good practice, to secure a step change in the UK’s offshore safety performance.  The target in 1997 was a 50% reduction in all injuries.  In 2002 a more global outlook was taken with industry leaders agreeing to aim for world-class safety performance. The new vision was:

“In 2010, the UK is the safest place to work in the World-wide oil and gas industry”

Membership of Step Change in Safety currently stands at of 120 companies and organisations. Its strategy is set by a leadership team of 24 senior industry executives representing the wide diversity of stakeholders in the offshore oil and gas industry in the UK including Trade Unions and the Regulator.  Day to day business is conducted by a support team seconded from Step Change member companies for a two/three year period and they are based in the Aberdeen offices of Oil and Gas UK.

Step Change in Safety Strategy

In 2004, a new strategy was agreed by the Step Change leadership team to achieve the vision of world-class safety performance. This involved rationalising activities and aligning all stakeholders in the industry to focus on three principal areas to improve safety performance:-

• Recognising hazards and reducing risks
• Personal ownership for safety
• Asset integrity

Themes Supporting the “Step Change in Safety” Vision 2005

All three areas are of equal importance and need to be worked in conjunction.  Successful delivery of the strategy is based on ownership and involvement at all levels and relies on leadership, communication and co-operation.  

In 2005, Step Change launched Personal Responsibility for Safety to provide a support structure to address the right safety behaviours at all levels of the industry.  Research conducted in 2006 highlighted the need to prompt greater recognition of hazards and risks and to reflect the true consequences of incidents.  As a consequence Step Change revised the 2004 Task Risk Assessment Guide to introduce dynamic risk assessment and situational awareness into the task risk assessment process.  The new guidance was launched in early 2007 together with some new “Consequence “DVDs which reveal the real cost of incidents to both the victim as well as friends, family and colleagues.

In 2007, Step Change will be building on the work already produced by the Asset Integrity Workgroup with the aim of widening the focus on major accident hazards. Key activities to improve asset integrity will be directed towards improving leading indicators; widening the sharing of information and lessons learnt from incidents and increased education and training to support the identification and recognition of safety critical elements. At the same time Step Change is also working on a range of issues raised by the workforce during the 2006 “Boots on for Safety” campaign. This campaign resulted in over 150 visits, onshore and offshore, and was designed to create an industry-wide dialogue about safety by bringing industry leaders together with the workforce to share information and ideas. Responding to the feedback from the campaign, Step Change launched a new UK green hat policy in May 2007 and is consulting on new supervisory guidance aimed at helping managers and supervisors spend more time onsite and to reduce unnecessary distractions. In addition, Step Change has set up three new workgroups to address the issues of competency, visible leadership and control of work and individual Duty Holders are being encouraged to address the site specific issues and to share their progress with Step Change on a regular basis.

Step Change continues to maintain an active engagement programme throughout the year, holding an annual Industry Leadership Safety Day for senior executives and three Combined Network Meetings for Offshore Installation Managers (OIMs), Supervisors, Safety Reps and Safety Professionals. These meetings are vital to ensure support, engagement and endorsement for the Step Change strategy from all levels of the industry.

Step Change in Safety is recognised globally for its unique approach and success. The Step Change website www.stepchangeinsafety.net attracts a worldwide audience and there is considerable interest from other industrial sectors in the UK as well as other countries throughout the world in the Step Change strategy, its publications and tools. Many interested parties have set up or are looking to set up similar initiatives in other countries including Australia, United Arab Emirates, Netherlands, Denmark, Canada and Malaysia.

In 2005 Step Change in Safety was awarded the Carolita U. Kallaur Award for Outstanding International Safety Leadership by the international Regulators forum in recognition of its achievements.