Educating industry on Major Accident prevention
A Major Accident Hazard is a source of danger that has the potential to cause a major incident, whether that involves multiple fatalities and/or significant damage to plant, equipment or the environment. Managing Major Accident Hazards is vital to safe operations. Everybody working in the oil and gas industry, both onshore and offshore, has a part to play in managing these hazards.
To control Major Accident Hazards, barriers must be put in place. These barriers help prevent a Major Accident happening or mitigate the effects of a Major Accident if one were to occur. To help those working in the industry identify the barriers and understand the part they play in ensuring these barriers are fit-for-purpose, the Step Change in Safety Major Accident Hazard Understanding workgroup has developed a suite of educational resources for members to use.
To contact the Major Accident Hazard Understanding workgroup, e-mail gillian@stepchangeinsafety.net.
Barriers can be classified as either plant, processes or people. They must work independently to stop the event from occurring or escalating. However, when there are multiple barriers, they can work together to provide layers of protection.
There are different ways of demonstrating how barriers work together to manage Major Accident Hazard risks and the bowtie model is one common and effective way. The bowtie model shows the threats on the left-hand side and the consequences on the right-hand side, with the incident being the knot in the middle. Barriers placed on the left hand side prevent the incident occurring and the barriers on the right-hand side mitigate the consequences if an incident were to happen.
The bowtie below shows some barriers that could prevent or mitigate against a major accident. (Note some barriers could sit on either or both sides)
Click on each barrier on the bowtie image to access information and resources
A process to assess any risks arising from changes to plant, process or people.
The layout and labelling of equipment to ensure correct identification.
Lifting and mechanical handling incidents can result in serious injuries and even a major accident. Lifting operations must be properly planned, risk assessed and undertaken by competent personnel using appropriately selected and certified equipment to ensure they are carried out in a safe manner.
Equipment and systems designed to safely contain hydrocarbons, e.g. piping, vessels and separators.
Overseeing the team's work tasks, ensuring the task, its risks and controls are understood, and that the task is completed safely and within the defined workscope. Making sure the team has the correct competence and training required for the task and communicating effectively with them.
Workforce Engagement is the ability for all workers to influence safety regardless of their role. Achieving effective workforce engagement relies on trust and good communication between everyone.
Control of Work (COW) is the management of business critical maintenance processes, to ensure tasks are carried out safely. Procedures include Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (RA), Permit to Work (PTW) and Isolation Management (IM).
TBT is an effective tool to ensure understanding of the task about to be undertaken. It is generally held at the worksite with the relevant teams, active discussion takes place so that everyone knows what is expected during the task. TBTs may be repeated if the task changes, e.g. the team, weather conditions or hazards.
The design of the entire facility including the building, utilities and placement of the process machinery and equipment.
Many organisations state that if any individual has concern over the safety of a task, then they have the right to stop the job. The right culture will ensure that there is no fear or repercussion in doing this and it is welcomed, and acted upon when appropriate.
Mechanical and electrical isolation of plant from sources of energy to allow personnel to safely undertake operations and maintenance. This also covers reinstating the plant
Initial design and ongoing inspection and maintenance to prevent structural failures.
Hardware and systems designed to prevent flooding, loss of stability or loss of station keeping.
The automatic and manually initiated actions which safely shut down equipment, systems or processes in response to a hazardous situation.
Within safety we are all leaders; working safely and displaying the right safety behaviours, ensuring we lead by example and influencing our fellow workmates to work safely, are all signs of great safety leadership. Safety leaders are found throughout an organisation and are not just those formally appointed into leadership positions. Leaders guide their teams to work towards shared goals to provide a safe place to work.
Competence is the combination of an individual’s knowledge, understanding, skills, behaviour and experience in order to perform a task effectively and safely. Standards and the relevant legislation determines the levels of competence required to perform a task.
Training, both technical and non-technical (such as situational awareness, teamwork and decision making) contributes towards an individuals competence.
Emergency response is the organisation and systems which are designed to deal with an emergency situation. It defines roles, responsibilities and processes for all emergency situations.
Equipment and processes designed to control sources of heat or the generation of a spark that have the potential to initiate a fire or explosion.
Communication is a key skill; it is the ability to share information, in various forms (verbal, non-verbal and written), in a way that another person can understand. It is also the ability to actively listen to the information given and act appropriately upon this.
Activities undertaken to ensure that equipment operates safely and as intended. This is a critical when ensuring that Safety and Environmental Critical Elements (SECEs) are fit for purpose.
Primary Well Control is a barrier to the influx of formation fluids into the well by maintaining a greater pressure within the wellbore than in the surrounding formations. Secondary Well Control relates to the equipment and techniques that are used to regain primary well control after it fails and an influx into the well occurs.
Fire protection can be either passive or active. Passive fire protection is designed to prevent failure of equipment or structures by protecting them from the heat of a fire. Active fire protection is designed to limit the spread and minimise the effect of a fire. It may use water, carbon dioxide or other gaseous extinguishing systems.
A system that detects hazardous events, such as a fire or hydrocarbon release, generates alarms and may trigger other systems to respond e.g. emergency shutdown systems.
A series of animated films and presentations to improve understanding of Major Accident Hazards, risk analyses, bowties and SECEs, barrier maintenance and barrier assurance & verification. Watch or download the trailer for free.
Download MAH trailerFiletype: m4v
The film is ideal for teaching or reminding personnel about MAHs and could be included as part of an induction
A member of the work party exercises their right to stop the job thus preventing a potentially significant hydrocarbon release
1. Definition of an MAH; 2. Understand the potential worst case scenario; 3. MAHs are risk assessed; 4. What is a safety case?
1. What is a barrier?; 2. What is a SECE?; 3. How do barriers prevent Major Accidents; 4. Barriers in your safety case; 5. What happens if barriers are defeated
1. How barriers are maintained, who does this and when; 2. What is Verification?; 3. What should you do if a barrier is impaired of fails?
1. Everyone, regardless of their job, owns barriers which keep us safe; 2. Examples of people 'owning' their barrier
Subject matter experts talk about barriers against Major Accidents
Other Resources
Everyone working in the oil and gas industry has a part to play in managing Major Accident Hazards. Resources have been developed to help the entire workforce, from boardroom to tea shack, understand what they can do to keep themselves and their colleagues safe from a Major Accident.
Resources have been developed for offshore and onshore personnel at every level. Everyone has a part to play.
This animated film and presentation aims to:- help people be better equipped to recognize when a barrier on the right-hand side of the bow-tie has been impaired and know what action to take to report it- assure the workforce at muster that there are plans and processes in place and engineered equipment to keep them safe
Steve Rae, a survivor of the Piper Alpha disaster, introduces why these barriers on the right-hand side of the bowtie should be known, understood and ready to operate when required.
A PowerPoint presentation describing the ditching of an A320 passenger airplane on the Hudson River, New York and the barriers in place which allowed all passengers and crew to survive.
An interactive ‘Blockbusters’ style game, Major Accident Hexagons is designed to provide training material that can be used to educate the workforce on MAHs
An impactful account of the events of that night, serving to remind us why remaining vigilant, and Playing Your Part is so important
This pack contains learnings from both oil & gas and other industries' major accidents. Each mini alert describes the circumstances, what went wrong, and includes discussion points relating to the 7Cs of safety.
A Safety Moment is based on the US Chemical Safety Board’s animated film of the BP Texas City Refinery explosion which occurred 23rd of March 2005
This pack aims to involve the audience, to get them thinking about the Major Accidents Hazards that surround them as they undertake their work tasks, and if the barriers that are in place to protect them from these hazards are in working order and are fit-for purpose. The activity is in the form of a game of bingo.
An interactive presentation which guilds the participant through building a bowtie using the example of car safety
All workers travelling offshore must undertake MIST (Minimum Industry Safety Training), which has a Major Accident Hazard module contained within it. For onshore workers, an e-learning module has been developed to help them understand how they can play their part in improving safety offshore. This is particularly useful for roles such as logistics, procurement and HR, who may not realise the impact they may have on preventing Major Accidents and many member organisations include this module in their company inductions.
This training is free to all employees of member companies. Contact your company focal point for access to the module.
Click here to access our MAH e-learning module
Gap analysis tool which can aid the identification of training requirements for technicians, supervisors and managers.
Download Understanding MAH gap analysis - SupervisorsFiletype: xlsx
Download Understanding MAH gap analysis - ManagersFiletype: xlsx
Download Understanding MAH gap analysis - TechniciansFiletype: xlsx
Fiona FitzGerald entered the oil & gas industry as an undergraduate where she offered business support to a range of clients. During this time, she discovered a passion for safety and has been working to help organizations manage risk for more than 25 years.
Fiona has worked extensively across Europe, Africa, Russia and the United States with Baker Hughes. Prior to that, she worked as Facilities Manager in Equatorial Guinea. During her recent 10-year career as Principal Consultant with DNV, Fiona launched the OPITO accredited Elected Safety Representatives’ Development Training.
In October 2021, Fiona established Evolve Consulting (Scotland) Ltd to deliver quality, safety, environmental risk management services to the oil & gas and renewables industries.
Fiona is a Fellow of the Institute of Training & Occupational Learning, and she is currently pursuing studies in human factors and organisational psychology.
Stuart has more than three decades of experience in the energy industry working both onshore and offshore in front line operation management, operational improvement, maintenance and project roles.
Stuart started his career with BP in 1990 within the technician apprenticeship scheme and quickly moved into a supervisory role before progressing to become an Operations Engineer then Offshore Installation Manager where he gained significant experience, including the Forties Regeneration Project and Beryl field / SAGE acquisition with Apache North Sea.
Onshore, Stuart has also held the roles of Mechanical Engineer, Operations Efficiency Manager, Project Manager, Maintenance Manager and Production Manager. His current role is Forties Area Operations Manager where he is responsible for safe, reliable and efficient operations.
A series of MAH vlogs from industry representatives
Major Accident Hazards Understanding - Gillian Ewan, Functional Safety Engineer, DNV
The night that changed our world
🥇1st place: 'Just a SECE' from LR who have chosen to donate their winnings to cfine
🥈2nd place: 'Beryl' from Apache who are donating their prize money to Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Scotland
🥉3rd place: 'Golden Eagle' CNOOC who are kindly making a donation to Mental Health Aberdeen
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