Safety Hazards Associated with Oil and Gas

Primary reference(s)

ILO, 1981. C155 - Occupational Safety and Health Convention (No. 155). International Labour Organisation (ILO). Accessed 8 November 2020.

US Department of Labor, no date. Occupational Safety and Health Administration Oil and Gas Extraction: Safety hazards associated with oil and gas extraction activities. Accessed 8 November 2020.

Additional scientific description

The oil and gas industry will retain an important role as affordable, reliable and versatile energy products for a growing global population. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2019, oil and gas combined, accounted for more than 50% of global energy demand and it is expected in the long term that energy demand will still grow by 25% by 2040. The challenge is to address climate change through emission reduction while also meeting global energy demand and supporting economic development in the long term (IAEA, 2019).

Oil and gas extraction activities include exploration, drilling, production, construction, transport and catering to refineries, which they also help to plan, build, equip and maintain, and delivery of energy products (ILO, 2010).

Oil and gas extraction activities have the potential to cause damage to or destruction of property and the environment and could even lead to injury and loss of life, particularly if the activity is not controlled, monitored, or regulated appropriately (Rodhi et al., 2018). Safety hazards associated with oil and gas extraction activities include but are not limited to (US Department of Labor, no date):

• Vehicle collision: workers and equipment are required to be transported to and from sites, which are often located in remote areas. Highway vehicle crashes are the leading cause of oil and gas extraction worker fatalities. In the United States, roughly four out of every ten workers on the job in this industry are killed as a result of a highway vehicle incident.
• Struck-by/ caught-in/caught-between: workers might be exposed to struck-by/caught-in/caught-between hazards from multiple sources such as moving vehicles or equipment, falling equipment, and high pressure lines. In the United States, this hazard is responsible for three in five on-site fatalities in the oil and gas industry.
• Explosions and fires: flammable gases such as well gases, vapours, and hydrogen sulphide, can be released from wells, trucks, production equipment or surface equipment. Ignition sources can include static, electrical energy sources, open flames, lightning, cutting and welding tools, hot surfaces, and frictional heat. Workers in the oil and gas industry face these risks, particularly the risk of fire and explosion due to ignition of flammable vapours or gases.
• Falls: can be a direct result of workers being required to access platforms located high above ground.
• Confined spaces: workers are often required to enter confined spaces such as petroleum and storage tanks, mud pits, reserve pits and other excavated areas. Safety hazards associated with confined space include ignition of flammable vapours or gases. Health hazards include asphyxiation and exposure to harmful chemicals. Confined spaces that contain or have the potential to contain a serious atmospheric hazard must be classified as permit-required confined spaces, tested prior to entry, and continuously monitored.
• Ergonomic hazards: oil and gas workers might be exposed to ergonomics-related injury risks such as lifting heavy items, bending, reaching overhead, pushing and pulling heavy workloads and performing the same tasks repetitively. Risk factors can be minimised or eliminated through interventions such as pre-task planning, using the right tools and education and awareness of potential hazards.
• High pressure line and equipment: workers in this industry may be exposed to hazards from compressed gases or from high-pressure lines. This can be as a result of internal erosion of lines which might result in leaks or line bursts.
• Electrical and other hazardous energy: industry workers may be exposed to uncontrolled electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, or other sources of hazardous energy if equipment is not designed, installed, and maintained properly.
• Machine hazards: oil and gas extraction workers may be exposed to a wide variety of rotating wellhead equipment including top drives and kelly drives, pumps, compressors, catheads, hoist blocks, belt wheels and conveyors, and might be injured if they are struck by or caught between unguarded machines.
• Planning and prevention: many countries within the industry use a job safety analysis processes to identify hazards and find solutions to reduce incidents that could lead to injury or fatalities.

Metrics and numeric limits

The International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) recent ‘Safety Data Report’ concluded thatfewer fatalities and injuries occurred in 2019 compared to the year prior (IOGP, 2020). In 2019, the industry experienced 25 fatalities in 22 separate incidents across 3 billion work hours. The largest proportion of fatalities was attributed to ‘caught in, under or between’ incidents, which excludes those involving dropped objects. Data reported by IOGP members also recorded a decline in the number of injuries. In 2019, there were 0.92 injuries per million hours worked. Overall, participating companies reported 21,899 days of work lost through injuries (IOGP, 2020).

Examples of drivers, outcomes and risk management

The IOGP serves as the industry’s regulator and as a global partner for improving safety, and environmental and social performance. The IOGP also acts as a global forum within which members can identify and share best practices to achieve improvements in health, safety, the environment, security, social responsibility, engineering and operations within the sector. The IOGP works to improve the industry and make a positive contribution to society through a number of external projects (IOGP, no date):

• Standards Solution: a forum for developing ISO standards with interested parties.
• Reports, guidelines, publications on a range of oil and gas topics including recommended practices, safety, and management.
• The IOGP Data Portal, through which it collects safety and environmental data from its member companies annually.

Leading oil and gas companies have increased efforts towards adopting a risk-based approach, through enhancing risk management capability such as the management of health, safety, and environment (HSE) risks by implementing the risk management framework 130 31000:2009 to achieve sustainable development (Rodhi et al., 2018).