Safety and environmental management system SEMS

The Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) requirements to do with offshore training are described and discussed in Table 7.1 (some formatting changes have been made). Additional information to do with offshore training is provided by the American Petroleum Institute (API) (2001). 

PSSRs are an integral part of all process safety management (PSM) regulations. In the United States, the PSSR requirements from Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are very similar. Offshore facilities are regulated by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in their Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) rule. They use the term PSR. 

This approach is spelled out in the following statement from the Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) rule ... 

The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) conducts safety inspections of offehore oil and gas platforms for the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) and has recently implemented safety and environmental management system (SEMS) requirements for the oil and gas industry. 

The next section briefly discusses the relevant elements of the safety and environmental management system (SEMS) regulations for offshore oil and gas operations. 

Finding 5. Some of the safety and environmental management system (SEMS) requirements for the offshore oil and gas industry would be appropriate for offshore wind farm worker health and safety and could be adapted to regulations for offshore wind installations. However, the overall risk to the health and safety of workers and to the environment associated with an offshore oil and gas platform is greater than that associated with an offshore wind turbine. 

In order to reduce the number and severity of major events companies need to develop and implement a Safety Management System, or SMS. The details of an SMS vary from company to company and agency to agency, but they all tend to have broadly the same structure and content. In the United States, the agency responsible for offshore safety, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), issued its Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) rule. The management elements of SEMS are shown in Table 1.2. 

Occupational Safety Health Administration (OSHA) or the Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS), rules do not require that companies submit an acmal report. Still, the management of those facilities needs internal reports to advise them on the progress that they are making. 

This chapter describes the Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) rule that applies to the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) of the United States. (The manner in which regulations are created and enforced for the United States offshore oil and gas industries is described in Chapter 4. The practical implementation of a SEMS program—including timing, cost, and schedule development—is discussed in... 

Chapter 7.) The formal title for SEMS is Oil and Gas and Sulphur Operations in the Outer Continental Shelf—Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS). It is Subpart S of 30 CER Part 250. 

BOEMRE is incorporating by reference, and making mandatory, the American Petroleum Institute s Recommended Practice for Development of a Safety and Environmental Management Program for Offshore Operations and Facilities (API RP 75), Third Edition, May 2004, reaffirmed May 2008. This recommended practice, including its appendices, constitutes a complete Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) program. 

Also in 2010, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), part of the US Department of Interior, published the Final Rule for 30 CFR Part 250 Subpart S—Safety and Environmental Management Systems (Ref. US Federal Register, 75 FR 63610). The BSEE enforces safety and environmental protection on the 1.7 billion-acre US Outer Continental Shelf (affecting offshore oil and gas development). This Final Rule incorporates by reference, and makes mandatory, the American Petroleum Institute s Recommended Practice for Development of a Safety and Environmental Management Program for Offshore Operations and Facilities (API ILP 75),Third Edition, May 2004, reaffirmed May 2008.This recommended practice, including its appendices, constitutes a complete Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS). 

The safety and environmental management systems (SEMS) rule for offshore... 

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) does not provide detailed guidance as to how a Safety and Environmental Management System (SEMS) program is to be implemented because the standard is fundamentally nonprescriptive. Each company and facility will need to develop a SEMS compliance plan that addresses their own needs and circumstances. Some thoughts as to how this can be done are presented in this chapter. 

The previous seven chapters of this book have demonstrated how much the offshore safety management business has changed and matured in the quarter century since the Piper Alpha accident. Yet, as the Deepwater Horizon and Montara events illustrate, more progress needs to be made, particularly with respect to process and technical safety. The industry has not yet arrived. No doubt ongoing application of the Safety and Environmental Management Systems (SEMS) and safety case techniques will lead to further improvement, yet there may also be a need to make a step change, and to find new ways of improving safety. 

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