MMS Gulf Region Observes 20^th Anniversary of Spill Drill Program (07/23/2009)
         ► 2007 Oil Spill Drill Video 

Preventing offshore accidents is a paramount goal of both the MMS and OCS operators. Information is critical to making solid business and regulatory decisions to help us achieve this goal. We hope this page will help by providing an overview of offshore safety efforts and enabling quicker dissemination of important safety-related information.

 MMS Finalizes Changes to Incident Reporting Regulations

On April 17, 2006, MMS published a Notice of Final Rule Making (73 FR 19640) that revised incident reporting requirements. These revised requirements became effective on July 17, 2008. The new requirements clarify what incidents are to be reported by providing more precise injury and other incident definitions and incident reporting timeframes. These changes will result in a more consistent incident reporting program with the collection of more reliable incident information. MMS uses incident data in a variety of ways:

	To examine the need for regulatory changes;
	To determine research study needs;
	To identify unsafe work procedures;
	To compile accident statistics and develop trend analyses;
	To decide which incidents are serious enough to warrant the formation an accident investigation panel;
	To prepare operator performance statistics;
	To evaluate Safety Award for Excellence (SAFE) candidates;
	To work with industry to develop technical and operating standards; and,
	To inform the public by publishing summaries of OCS incidents on the MMS webpage.

To learn more about OCS incidents that are reported to the MMS, please visit our OCS Events and Offshore Stats & Facts pages.

MMS Proposes Safety and Environmental Management Regulations

On June 17, 2009, MMS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (74 FR 28639) that would require operators to develop and implement a Safety and Environmental Management System for their oil and gas operations on the OCS (Outer Continental Shelf). The Safety and Environmental Management System would consist of four elements—Hazards Analysis, Management of Change, Operating Procedures, and Mechanical Integrity— that, until now, have not been covered in our regulations.

MMS accident and inspection data show that the root cause of most safety and environmental accidents and incidents is one or more of these four elements. The MMS believes that requiring operators to implement a Safety and Environmental Management System will reduce the number of accidents, injuries, and spills that occur during MMS-regulated OCS activities. Comments on the proposed rule are due by September 17, 2009. For more information see a copy of the Federal Register Notice for the Proposed Rule.