Safety first

The

(OGP) report on safety performance in 2005 showed improvements across the majority of the industry’s measurement indicators.

The global upstream fatal accident rate in 2005 dropped by one third from the previous year. This occurred during a busy period that saw a four per cent rise in the reported number of hours spent finding and producing oil and gas around the world.

In 2005, during the course of 2.38 billion hours worked, there were 84 fatalities among OGP member companies and their contractors. That is down from 120 deaths the year before. When expressed as a fatality rate, the 2005 figure is the lowest on record.

The data also showed an overall fall in the frequency of lost time injuries. In 2005 this dropped by 11% to less than one injury per million hours worked. Again, it was the lowest rate recorded in what has become the largest database in the history of exploration and production reporting.