Risk Governance of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations

This book evaluates and compares risk regulation and safety management for offshore oil and gas operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Norway and Australia. It provides an interdisciplinary approach with legal, technological and sociological perspectives on efforts to assess and prevent major accidents and improve safety performance. Presented in three parts, it begins with a review of the factors involved in designing, implementing and enforcing a regulatory regime for industrial safety. It then evaluates the four regimes exploring the contextual factors that influence their design and implementation, their reliance on industrial expertise and standards and the use of performance indicators. Finally the book assesses the resilience of the Norwegian regime, its capacity to keep pace with new technologies and emerging risks, respond to near miss incidents, encourage safety culture, incorporate vested rights of labor, and perform inspection and self-audit functions. This book is relevant for those in government, business and academia, and anyone involved in offshore safety issues.1. A generic model for risk governance: concept and application to technological installations Ortwin Renn; 2. Modes of risk regulation for prevention of major industrial accidents Michael Baram and Preben H. Lindoe; 3. Values and norms - a basis for a safety culture Kathryn Mearns; 4. Optimising offshore health and safety inspections: how the markets could help Emre Usenmez; 5. Safety regulation on the Norwegian continental shelf Knut Kaasen; 6. Health and safety regulation on the UKCs: evolution and future prospects John Paterson; 7. Preventing accidents in offshore oil and gas: the US regulatory regime Michael Baram; 8. A new policy direction in Australian offshore safety regulation Jan Hayes; 9. Safety indicators used by authorities in the petroleum industry of UK, US, and Norway Helene Cecilie Blakstad; 10. Governmental enforced self-regulation: the Norwegian case Paul Bang and Olaf Thuestad; 11. Contested terrains in risk regulation. Legitimacy challenges in implementation processes Jacob Kringen; 12. Boxing and dancing: tripartite collaboration as an integral part of a regulatory regime Ragnar Rosness and Ulla Forseth; 13. Emergent risk and new technologies Ole Andreas Engen; 14. Near major accidents - a challenge for regulator and the regulated Ole Andreas Engen; 15. Inspections, independence and intelligence Helge Ryggvik; 16. Advancing robust regulation: reflections and lessons to be learned Andrew Hale.