Summary from the Safety Conference 2005

The herring and shipping city of Haugesund was the location for the eleventh security conference directed by the Norwegian Safety Centre Association. Over 40 representatives from 15 of the total 20 NSCA member companies were in attendance. The focus of the conference was the importance of developing attitudes and behaviours in safety training, and the potential for further development of safety in the offshore industry.

25 years since the Alexander Kielland accident

Mayor Petter Steen wished everyone welcome and reminded all how important it is to maintain constant focus on safety. Mach 27th this year it has been 25 years since the Alexander Kielland accident. Haugesund was one of the areas hardest hit when the 123 people lost their lives. No single accident has had such a great impact on safety work in Norway as the Alexander Kielland accident.

Zero Philosophy - can it be achieved?

Today, all the technological tools necessary to achieve the goal of Zero Philosophy are available. What is missing, and why are there still undesirable incidents? At the conference, it was underlined that it is important to work with understanding safety, so that every individual can take his or her part of the total responsibility. Working like this, we can eliminate more undesirable incidents.

Through measures such as "The Colleague Program", "Personal Safety Involvement" and other "Best Practice Measures", the oil industry is trying to focus on responsibility as an important part of their safety work.

Develompent Tendencies in the Industry

Carsten Bowitz in the Norwegian Oil Industry Association contributed by focusing on even better coordination between OLF's guidelines and Standards of Training, Certification & Watchkeeping (STCW). Such an arrangement would make safety and emergency offshore training common to both ships and platforms. It is also desirable for training to be common for the whole North Sea basin; Great Britain, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Norway. This would make training more rational and flexible for all involved.

The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate presented the two most important factors that influence safety and emergency training. One is internationalising and the other is the oil industry's and society's need for cost-effective solutions. One step in this direction is the deal that was signed between the Norwegian and British shelves on April 4^th this year.

---

Article by: Chul Christian Aamodt, Sales and Marketing Director, Mintra AS

This article was previously published in Mintra's industry e-zine, Complete LEARNING & COMPETENCE no. 5 - 2005. A new e-zine comes out on the first Friday of every month. To subscribe to the e-zine, send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and write "HLK" in the subject line.