OCS Incident Tracking
The Bureau and the oil and gas industry work cooperatively
to protect our environment and to keep workers safe.
Outer Continental Shelf (OCS)
operators and
lessees are required to report incidents related to OCS operations to
the Bureau including: fatalities, injuries, explosions, fires, lose of well
control, collisions, pollution, and other incidents. The Bureau tracks,
investigates, and analyzes the incident information to identify the
causes, trends, and safety concerns. The Bureau uses this information to
identify appropriate actions to enhance safety and environmental
protection on the OCS.
Incident Reporting Requirements
In order to more effectively identify incident trends and
safety concerns the Bureau recently revised the regulations for incident
reporting. The
Final Rule (FR 19640)
(173.44 KB PDF) for these regulations was published on April 17, 2006 and became
effective on July 17, 2006. This new rule will result in more consistent
reporting and the collection of more reliable data. More information
about the new rule can be found on the
Incident Reporting Requirements webpage.
Incident Statistics and Summaries
The Bureau inputs incidents
reported to the agency into a database for tracking and analysis. The
Bureau
compiles this information into basic statistics and summaries of OCS
incidents reported. Statistics from 1997 to the present and summaries
from 1956 to the present are available on the
Incident Statistics and
Summary webpage.
Incident Investigations
The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act requires
either the Bureau or the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to prepare a public report
for all deaths, serious injuries, major fires, and major oil spills that
are related to OCS exploration, development, and production operations.
The most recent
Memorandum of Agreement (1.69 MB PDF)
signed by both the Bureau and the USCG in March 2009 provides guidelines
that identify, in the case of an incident, which agency should conduct
the investigation and prepare the report. The Bureau also investigates less
serious incidents to identify potential safety concerns. Investigation
reports for incidents that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR)
are available on the
GOMR Website. |