Introduction

Authority
The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) requires that either MMS or the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) prepare a public report for all deaths, serious injuries, major fires, and major oil spillage (>200 barrels within 30 days) resulting from OCS mineral operations. To carry out the requirements in OCSLA, the MMS and the USCG have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that provides guidelines for identifying the agency that will normally conduct the investigation and prepare the report. Joint investigations can also be conducted.

II. Importance and Relation to Other Aspects of Safety Program
The MMS mission is to manage OCS resources in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Safety of operations has always been a key element of the Federal Government's offshore program. Looking at the number of fatalities for the past 30 years (see graph in the Appendix, p. A-1), there is an indication that OCS operations are generally safer now than they were in the past. Many factors have contributed to improved safety and environmental protection over the years, including: the development of operating regulations, increased regulatory oversight, improved industry safety programs, and improved technology.

Due to recent record lease sales in the GOM and the resulting increase in activity, especially in deep-water areas, increased attention has been placed on the performance of operators, including the occurrence of incidents. With the rise in activity, the potential for a major incident increases and the importance of accurate data and analytical techniques also increases.
 

Accurate reporting, record-keeping, and analysis of incident information is an integral component of a properly functioning regulatory program and a safe OCS oil and gas industry. Incident data are used to identify operational trends and fluctuations from the norm. Evaluation of this information is then used as a benchmark to evaluate the performance of the industry. Based on this evaluation, areas of concern are identified and addressed through a variety of measures including regulatory changes or new research initiatives.

III. Accident Reporting Requirements and Investigation Policies
MMS regulations at 30 CFR 250.19 (a) specify industry accident reporting requirements. They require OCS lessees to notify MMS of "... all serious accidents, any death or serious injury, and all fires, explosions or blowouts connected with any activities or operations on the lease." All spills of oil or other liquid pollutants must also be reported to MMS. These regulations also address the preparation of public accident reports and procedures used in conducting accident investigations.
 

In 1992, MMS revised a basic internal policy for collecting accident data and conducting accident investigations. Under that policy, MMS must investigate all major accidents, and some minor accidents. The degree of investigation is left to the discretion of the District Supervisor. Major accidents are fires and explosions that result in damage of $1 million or more, liquid hydrocarbon spills of 200 barrels or more during a period of 30 days, or accidents involving a fatality or serious injury that causes substantial impairment of any bodily unit or function.
 

The regions followed this policy until August 1996 when the MMS implemented a more stringent policy. Since that date, the MMS conducts an onsite investigation for all fires and explosions, all blowouts, all spills greater than 1 barrel, all accident-related fatalities, all collisions involving structural damage to OCS facilities, and injuries and accidents requiring repairs on a case-by-case basis. The degree of investigation is still left to the discretion of the District Supervisor. In some cases an accident investigation panel will be formed and a more detailed report will also be prepared. During 1995-1996, over 50 percent of all incidents had a completed Accident Investigation Report.

IV. OCS Activity 1995-1996
The Federal OCS encompasses about 1.4 billion acres. MMS has divided this area into four regions: Atlantic, Alaska, Gulf of Mexico (GOM), and Pacific (POCS). At the present time, most of the OCS activity is taking place in the GOM and POCS Regions. At the end of 1996, there were over 3,800 production facilities installed in the GOM. As of this same date, 23 production facilities were installed in the POCS. To date, no production facilities have been installed in either the Atlantic or Alaska Regions. Also, during the period of this report (1995-1996), no exploratory drilling operations occurred in the Atlantic Region. During the same period, two wells were spudded in the Alaska Region. No incidents were reported from the Atlantic and Alaska Regions during 1995-1996.

V. Summary of OCS Incident Data and Trends 1995-1996
This section briefly summarizes the incident data presented in the body of this report. The graphs referenced in this section can be found in the Appendix of this site.
 

MMS categorizes types of incidents as blowouts, collisions, explosions, fires, fatalities, injuries, significant pollution incidents (for spillage 50 barrels), pipeline incidents, and other. In some cases, more than one incident type will occur during the same event on a facility. As an example, a fire at a facility may result in injuries to an individual or an explosion may also involve a fire. For the purposes of this report, each incident type is listed separately under the appropriate category and counted separately as one incident.
 

During 1995-1996, 285 incidents occurred on the OCS (see bar chart in the Appendix, p. A-2). Almost half of these incidents were fires, with 129 occurring during 1995-1996. Most of the fires were minor and resulted in little or no damage and no injuries. Almost one-third of the incidents were injuries, with 88 occurring during 1995-1996. The majority of these injuries were minor. Both the number of fires and number of injuries recorded in TIMS doubled from 1995 to 1996. Part of this increase may be a result of changes in GOM record-keeping requirements that were effective August 1996. Blowouts, explosions, fatalities, pipeline incidents, and incidents in the other category have also shown some increase between 1995-1996. MMS continues to monitor and analyze these incidents to help focus its regulatory program as needed. During 1995-1996, there were 5 blowouts, 8 explosions, 18 fatalities, 11 pipeline events, 8 significant pollution events ( 50 bbls), and 7 incidents in the other category. There were also 11 collisions with OCS facilities during this period.
 

Although Significant Pollution Incidents (spillage of 50 barrels) and Collisions with OCS facilities decreased slightly between 1995-1996, MMS continues to monitor these incidents as well. In particular, the MMS is working with the U.S. Coast Guard to determine what can be done to reduce Collision incidents.
 

The majority of the 1995-1996 incidents occurred during production operations. Overall, the main cause of all incidents in 1995 and 1996 was equipment failure followed by human error. As shown in the report, there are a large number of events caused by human error. Due to the wide scope of the term, MMS is trying to narrow the definition of this cause.
 

Using the cause determinations from the initial incident reports, the primary cause of fires was equipment failure, followed by human error. For injuries, the primary cause was human error, followed by slip/trip/fall, and then by equipment failure. The primary causes of fatalities were human error and slip/trip/fall. Most fatalities occurred during production operations, followed by drilling, then well completion and welding operations. Blowouts were mainly a result of equipment failure and human error, occurring primarily during drilling operations followed by well completion activities. Explosions mainly occurred during production activities and were primarily caused by equipment failure and human error. Collisions with OCS facilities were caused primarily by human error and equipment failure. Charts showing the causes of these incident categories can be found in the Appendix of this site.