The Application of Regulations for Certificate of Fitness of Jackup Structures in the British Sector of the North Sea
Authors: Forman B.J. 
Published: October 2008

The paper briefly examines the development of the UK offshore safety regime, the legislation in force and the guidance to be applied to obtain a Certificate of Fitness to operate a jack-up on the UK continental shelf as understood by the author. It also takes account of the recommendations made by Lord Cullen and their effect on the regulations.

1 Introduction

Ever since the Mineral Workings (Offshore Installations) Act 1971 (MWA) was enacted following the investigation into the collapse of "Sea Gem" in 1965 the UK Offshore safety regime has been in a state of almost constant change, rising to a peak of activity in November 1990 following publication of Lord Cullen's report of The Public Inquiry into the Piper Alpha Disaster. The publication of "The Cullen Report" and the Government's statement that it accepts and will implement all 106 recommendations, has left drilling contractors and the certifying authorities in both a state of flux and confusion. Further compounded by Operators imposing safety audits by consultants with limited liability who cannot be held responsible far their assessment applying their interpretation of current regulations and generally duplicating work already performed by the CA'S. This situation is clearly undesirable and of no benefit to the Industry.

2 Development of existing legislation

In attempting to understand the UK offshore safety regime it is useful to briefly examine the development of the legislation. The MWA Act 1971 required the registration of offshore installations, and empowered the Secretary of State to make regulations for the safety, health and welfare of persons on offshore installations and generally for the safety of those installations and the prevention of accidents on or near them. It also empowered him to appoint inspectors to assist in the execution of the Act and required the appointment of an Offshore Installation Manager (OIM). Under the MWA an offshore installation includes any floating structure or device maintained on station by whatever means. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) imposed on an employer aduty to ensure so far as is reasonable and practical, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees. It established the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), for effecting the general purposes of the act and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for enforcement of health and safety legislation. The HSWA, which initially only applied onshore was extended offshore in 1976 to ensure that one agency, the HSC, would be responsible for ensuring that common standards of occupational safety were applied both onshore and offshore. However, the responsibility for inspecting offshore installations remained with the Petroleum Engineering Department (PED) of the Department of Energy (DEn) and accordingly in 1978 the HSC entered into an agency agreement with the Secretary of State for Energy. Following the publication of the Cullen Report this policy is now in the process of being reversed by transferring PED to HSE.