Center for Offshore Safety

In addition to the standards bodies described above, there are also various agencies and government bodies that provide information and guidance that can be used by the process risk professional. They include the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the Center for Offshore Safety (COS). 

In practice, it is likely that the company s own auditors and audit systems will have to be Incorporated into the ISP work, as discussed below. BSEE will not maintain a list of qualified auditors. Instead, an operating company will propose a person, who will then be either accepted or rejected by BOEMRE. The Center for Offshore Safety plays an important role in the assessment of potential ISPs. 

Each of these issues needs attention. In response to post-Macondo criticism, API has created a new Center for Offshore Safety dedicated to continuous improvement in the safety of deepwater operations. But BSEE has yet to address its dependence on API and other industrial organizations for safety expertise and determine how to become the senior partner in public-private collaborations on safety issues. In this regard, the chapters in this book on the Norwegian regime are instructive. Finally, the private groups and BSEE need to be reminded that their offshore domain exists because of public trust in their exploitation of publicly owned resources, and that they are therefore obliged to ensure transparency and stakeholder participation in their activities. Indications that some of these issues have been recognized and may be addressed by BSEE and presidential advisors are subsequendy discussed. 

Given this background the API created the Center for Offshore Safety (COS) following Deepwater Horizon. The intent for the COS was to supplement and complement formal regulations, and have a relationship to BSEE and the other agencies analogous to that between INPO and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 

The Center for Offshore Safety (COS) is an industry-sponsored organization focused exclusively on offshore safety in the deepwater (water depths >1000ft) Gulf of Mexico. The Center serves the U.S. offshore oil gas industry with the purpose of adopting standards of excellence to ensure continuous improvement in safety and offshore operational integrity. 

The Center for Offshore Safety (COS) is described on page 154. One of its major duties has been to create audit systems, particularly with regard to the first round of SEMS audits, which were due on November 15, 2013. Many of its initiatives have to do with audits that were incorporated into law under the SEMS II rule. 

The Center for Offshore Safety (COS) has provided three SEMS Operator-Contractor Agreement Letter Templates. Each template has a different focus, but they all provide a structure for an agreement between an operator and a contractor. An extract from the second of the three templates is provided in Table 6.8 below. 

Although not written up as a recommendation, the Commission s report discusses the Nuclear Model at some length. This discussion seems to be leading, at the time of writing, to the creation of a Center for Offshore Safety under the aegis of the API. The role of this new organization, and how it compares to what occurred in the nuclear power industry following the Three Mile Island disaster, is discussed in the next chapter. 

After extensive review and development, the oil and natural gas industry has approved the creation of the Center for Offshore Safety, which will promote the highest level of safety for offshore operations, through an effective program that addresses management practices, communication and teamwork, and which relies on independent, third-party auditing and verification. The board directed API to further develop the operational framework and timeline for the center—working with other industry stakeholders—to enhance industry safety and environmental performance. 

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