UK Offshore Safety Regulators Warn BP About Lack of Safety Checks

After maritime lawyers and US federal officials, it's now the turn of offshore safety regulators in the United Kingdom to increase pressure on BP. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK has warned BP about the lack of safety checks at its North Sea facilities. According to the offshore safety regulator, BP is not doing enough to ensure safety at its North Sea oil rigs. It has not been conducting enough safety checks at these rigs. The Health and Safety Executive has given BP time until the month of May this year to enhance safety at several of its rigs, including the Clair, Schiehallion and Eastern Trough Area Project wells. Among other things, the notice served by the Health and Safety executive mentions that the company is not carrying out suitable and sufficient assessments of the risks to employee safety, as well as safety of other crew members working on offshore oil and gas drilling rigs operated and owned by BP. Just last year, BPs operations in the North Sea were the subject of an investigation. The investigation found that new crew members were not being trained sufficiently in basic safety operations. Six months after that investigation wrapped up, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 workers, and injuring several others. BP insists that it has already taken action to improve its risk assessment and management programs and that its safety performance in the North Sea has improved considerably.

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