Safety and situation awareness in offshore crews

Much work involved on offshore installations has the capacity to be hazardous, and despite many rules and regulations in place to ensure that accident risk is kept to a minimum, accidents still occur. One factor known in other industries (e.g. aviation) to contribute to the occurrence of accidents is a reduction in the 'situation awareness' (SA) of those concerned. Good SA is essential when work is potentially hazardous, as workers must accurately discern and monitor conditions if they are to reduce accidents. Accident analyses have shown that a team can lose their shared awareness of the situation when it is vital to the safety of their operation. This may be particularly relevant to drill crews given the interactive and hazardous nature of their work. In this way, lack of/reduced SA may be a predictor of the likelihood of an accident occurring. This paper presents a brief history of SA, an overview of the study, a preliminary review of an accident database, and results from interviews with onshore and offshore oil and gas industry personnel.