Human and organizational factors in offshore safety

TLDR

Human and organizational factors are increasingly recognized as key predictors of accidents in the UK offshore oil and gas industry, building on prior work linking risk perception to incident involvement. This study extends previous work by examining how offshore employees’ perceptions of organizational factors influence safety attitudes, feelings, and satisfaction. A self‑report questionnaire was administered to 11 UK Continental Shelf installations, yielding 722 responses (33% response rate), and correlations plus step‑wise regression analyzed relationships among measures. Results show that self‑reported unsafe behaviour best predicts accidents and near‑misses, and that such behaviour is driven by perceived production pressure. Keywords: Human Factors, Organizational Factors, Accident Involvement, Offshore Industry.

Abstract

The role of human and organizational factors in predicting accidents and incidents has become of major interest to the UK offshore oil and gas industry. Some of these factors had been measured in an earlier study focusing on the role of risk perception in determining accident involvement. The current study sought to extend the methodology by focusing on perceptions of organizational factors that could have an impact on safety. A self-report questionnaire was developed and distributed to 11 installations operating on the UK Continental Shelf. A total of 722 were returned (33% response rate) from a representative sample of the offshore workforce on these installations. The study investigated the underlying structure and content of offshore employees' attitudes to safety, feelings of safety and satisfaction with safety measures. Correlations and step-wise regression analysis were used to test the relationships between measures. The results suggest that 'unsafe' behaviour is the 'best' predictor of accidents/near misses as measured by self-report data and that unsafe behaviour is, in turn, driven by perceptions of pressure for production. Keywords: Human FactorsOrganizational FactorsAccident InvolvementOffshore Industry