The Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005

Made: 9th November 2005

Laid before Parliament: 17th November 2005

Coming into force: 6th April 2006

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 15(1), (2), (3)(a), (4)(a), (5)(b), (6)(b), and 82(3)(a) of, and paragraphs 1(1)(c) and (2), 8(1), 9, 14, 15(1) and 16 of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (“the 1974 Act”) and section 1(2) of the Offshore Safety Act 1992 and for the purpose of giving effect without modifications to proposals submitted to him by the Health and Safety Commission under section 11(2)(d) of the 1974 Act after the carrying out of consultations by the said Commission in accordance with section 50(3) of that Act, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

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These Regulations may be cited as the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 2005 and shall come into force on 6th April 2006.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations—

• “the 1992 Regulations” means the Offshore Installations (Safety Case) Regulations 1992;

• “current safety case” means a safety case in respect of an installation which has been accepted by the Executive pursuant to these Regulations or, subject to regulation 27, the 1992 Regulations and includes any revision thereto which—may take effect without the acceptance of the Executive; orhas been accepted by the Executive;

• “dismantling” means the dismantling or removal of the main and secondary structure of a fixed installation at the place at which it was operated, and “dismantled” shall be construed accordingly;

• “diving bell” means a compression chamber which is capable of being manned and is used or designed for use under the surface of water in supporting human life, being a chamber in which any occupant is or may be subject to a pressure of more than 300 millibars above atmospheric pressure during normal operations;

• “duty holder” means—in relation to a production installation, the operator; andin relation to a non-production installation, the owner;

• “the Executive” means the Health and Safety Executive;

• “field development programme” means the support document for development and production authorisations to be submitted to the Oil and Gas Authority pursuant to the Guidance Notes on Procedures for Regulating Offshore Oil and Gas Field Developments, as published on the Oil and Gas Authority’s website, and revised or reissued from time to time ;

• “fixed installation” means an installation which cannot be moved from place to place without major dismantling or modification, whether or not it has its own motive power;

• “installation” means an offshore installation within the meaning of regulation 3 of the Management Regulations;

• “internal waters” means tidal waters and parts of the sea in or adjacent to Great Britain up to the landward limits of the territorial sea;

• “licensee” means any person to whom a licence to search and bore for and get petroleum in respect of any area within internal waters is granted pursuant to section 2 of the Petroleum (Production) Act 1934 or section 3 of the Petroleum Act 1998 ;

• “major accident” means—a fire, explosion or the release of a dangerous substance involving death or serious personal injury to persons on the installation or engaged in an activity on or in connection with it;an event involving major damage to the structure of the installation or plant affixed thereto or any loss in the stability of the installation;the collision of a helicopter with the installation;the failure of life support systems for diving operations in connection with the installation, the detachment of a diving bell used for such operations or the trapping of a diver in a diving bell or other subsea chamber used for such operations; orany other event arising from a work activity involving death or serious personal injury to five or more persons on the installation or engaged in an activity in connection with it;

• “management system” means the organisation and arrangements established by a person for managing his undertaking;

• “the Management Regulations” means the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995 ;

• “non-production installation” means an installation other than a production installation;

• “notified” means notified in writing, and related expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• “operator”, in relation to a pipeline, means—the person who is to have or (once fluid or any mixture of fluids is conveyed) has control over the conveyance of fluid or any mixture of fluids in the pipeline;until that person is known (should there be a case where at a material time he is not yet known) the person who is to commission or (where commissioning has started) commissions the design and construction of the pipeline; orwhen a pipeline is no longer used or is not for the time being used, the person last having control over the conveyance of fluid or any mixture of fluids in it;

• “operator”, in relation to a production installation, means—the person appointed by the licensee to manage and control directly or by any other person the execution of the main functions of a production installation; orthe licensee, where—it is not clear to the Executive that one person has been appointed to perform the functions described in paragraph (a); orin the opinion of the Executive, any person appointed to perform the functions described in paragraph (a) is incapable of performing those functions satisfactorily;

• “owner” means the person who controls the operation of a non-production installation;

• “petroleum”—includes any mineral oil or relative hydrocarbon and natural gas, whether or not existing in its natural condition in strata; anddoes not include coal or bituminous shales or other stratified deposits from which oil can be extracted by destructive distillation;

• “the PFEER Regulations” means the Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire and Explosion, and Emergency Response) Regulations 1995 ;

• “pipeline” shall be construed in accordance with regulation 3 of the Pipelines Safety Regulations 1996 ;

• “production installation” means an installation which—extracts petroleum from beneath the bed of internal waters by means of a well;stores gas in or under the shore or bed of internal waters and recovers gas so stored; oris used for the conveyance of petroleum by means of a pipe,and—includes a—non-production installation converted for use as a production installation for so long as it is so converted;production installation which has ceased production for so long as it is not converted to a non-production installation; andproduction installation which has not come into use; anddoes not include an installation which, for a period of no more than 90 days, extracts petroleum from beneath the bed of internal waters for the purposes of well testing;

• “relevant statutory provisions” means the relevant statutory provisions (as defined in section 53(1) of the 1974 Act) which apply to or in relation to installations or activities on or in connection with them , within internal waters;

• ...

• “safety-critical elements” means such parts of an installation and such of its plant (including computer programmes), or any part thereof—the failure of which could cause or contribute substantially to; ora purpose of which is to prevent, or limit the effect of,a major accident;

• “specified plant” means the plant for an installation which is provided—in compliance with regulations 11(1)(a), 13, 15 and 16 of the PFEER Regulations;as means required to be provided by regulation 10 of the PFEER Regulations—for detecting fire; andfor detecting and recording accumulations of flammable gases; andpursuant to the measures required by regulation 12 of the PFEER Regulations to combat fire and explosion,except for—plant which is part of the safety-critical elements for that installation; andaircraft or equipment to which regulation 18 of the PFEER Regulations applies.

• “vessel” includes a hovercraft and any floating structure which is capable of being staffed;

• “well” means—a well made by drilling; anda borehole drilled with a view to the extraction of petroleum through it or another well,and shall be deemed to include any device on it for containing the pressure in it;

• “well operation” means—the drilling of a well, including the recommencement of drilling after a well has been completed, suspended or abandoned by plugging at the bed of internal waters; andany operation in relation to a well during which there may be an accidental release of fluids from that well which could give rise to the risk of a major accident; and

• “well operator”, in relation to a well or proposed well, means—the person appointed by the licensee for that well or proposed well to execute the function of organising and supervising the drilling of that well and all operations to be carried out by means of that well; orwhere no such person has been appointed, the licensee.

• (2) Any reference in these Regulations to a design notification, a relocation notification, a safety case or a notification of combined operations or well operations is a reference to a document containing the particulars specified in the Schedule referred to in the provision pursuant to which it is prepared and, for a safety case, regulation 12.

• (3) Any reference in these Regulations to operating an installation is a reference to using the installation for any of the purposes described in sub-paragraphs (a) to (d) of paragraph (1) of regulation 3 of the Management Regulations.

• (4) For the purposes of these Regulations, an installation other than a production installation, the operation of which has not been treated as having commenced in accordance with paragraph (2) of regulation 7, shall be treated as engaged in a combined operation with another such installation or other such installations if an activity carried out from, by means of or on, that installation is carried out temporarily for a purpose related to the other installation or installations and could affect the health or safety of persons on the other installation or installations, and the expression “combined operation” shall be construed accordingly.

• (5) Any reference in these Regulations to a verification scheme is a reference to a suitable written scheme for ensuring, by means described in paragraph (6), that the safety-critical elements and the specified plant—

• (a) are or, where they remain to be provided, will be suitable; and

• (b) where they have been provided, remain in good repair and condition.

• (6) The means referred to in paragraph (5) are—

• (a) examination, including testing where appropriate, of the safety-critical elements and the specified plant by independent and competent persons;

• (b) examination of any design, specification, certificate, marking or other document, or standard relating to those elements or that plant by such persons;

• (c) examination by such persons of work in progress;

• (d) the taking of appropriate action following reports by such persons;

• (e) the taking of other such steps as may be properly provided for pursuant to regulation 19 and Schedule 7; and

• (f) the taking of any steps incidental to the means described in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e) of this paragraph.

• (7) For the purposes of paragraph (6) and regulations 19 and 20, a person shall be regarded as independent only where—

• (a) his function will not involve the consideration by him of an aspect, of a thing liable to be examined, for which he bears or has borne such responsibility as might compromise his objectivity; and

• (b) he will be sufficiently independent of a management system, or of a part thereof, which bears or has borne any responsibility for an aspect of which he might consider, of a thing liable to be examined, to ensure that he will be objective in discharging his function.

• (8) Any reference in these Regulations to an activity in connection with an installation is a reference to any activity in connection with an installation, or any activity which is immediately preparatory thereto, whether carried on from the installation itself, in or from a vessel or in any other manner, other than—

• (a) transporting, towing or navigating the installation; and

• (b) any activity in or from a vessel which is ready to give assistance in the event of an emergency on or near the installation.

• (9) Where a duty holder is succeeded by a new duty holder, anything done in compliance with these Regulations by the duty holder in relation to an installation shall, for the purposes of these Regulations, be treated as having been done by his successor.

Communication and storage of information by electronic means

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• (1) Except as provided in paragraph (5), where these Regulations require or allow a person to communicate information to another, whether in writing or otherwise, that person may communicate such information by electronic means.

• (2) Information communicated by electronic means shall not be treated as having been received by the recipient for the purposes of these Regulations unless the recipient—

• (a) has agreed to receive that information by electronic means by providing the sender with an address to which that information may be sent;

• (b) is able to read and print that information; and

• (c) is able to store that information in a form with which the sender cannot interfere.

• (3) In the absence of a clear indication to the contrary, information communicated by electronic means in accordance with, and for the purposes of, these Regulations shall be deemed—

• (a) to be accurately dated and timed;

• (b) to have been sent by the person from whom it purports to originate;

• (c) not to have been tampered with or otherwise modified; and

• (d) where relevant, to be intended to have legal effect.

• (4) Where these Regulations require any person to record, note or store information, it may be recorded, noted or stored on film or by electronic means if it—

• (a) can be reproduced (in the case of information recorded, noted or stored on film, at the place at which it is recorded, noted or stored) as a written copy; and

• (b) is reasonably secure from loss or unauthorised interference.

• (5) This regulation shall not apply to regulation 22(2).

Application

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• (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• (2) These Regulations shall not apply to wells to which the Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995 apply.

Duties of licensee

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The licensee shall—

• (a) ensure that any operator appointed by him is capable of satisfactorily carrying out his functions and discharging his duties under the relevant statutory provisions; and

• (b) take all reasonable steps to ensure that any operator appointed by him carries out his functions and discharges his duties under the relevant statutory provisions.

Design and relocation notifications for production installation

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• (1) The operator of a production installation which is to be established shall—

• (a) prepare a design notification containing the particulars specified in Schedule 1; and

• (b) send the design notification to the Executive,

at such time before the submission of a field development programme to the Oil and Gas Authority as will enable him to take account in the design of any matters relating to health and safety raised by the Executive within 3 months (or such shorter period as the Executive may specify) of that time.

• (2) The operator of a production installation which is to be moved to a new location within internal waters (whether from outside internal waters or not) and operated there shall—

• (a) prepare a relocation notification containing the particulars specified in Schedule 1 not contained in any current safety case for that installation; and

• (b) send the relocation notification to the Executive,

at such time before the submission of a field development programme to the Oil and Gas Authority Change as will enable him to take account of any matters relating to health and safety raised by the Executive within 3 months (or such shorter period as the Executive may specify) of that time.

• (3) Paragraph (1) shall only require the particulars in the design notification to describe the matters referred to in that paragraph to the extent that it is reasonable to expect the duty holder to address them at the time of sending the design notification to the Executive.

• (4) Where there is a material change in any of the particulars notified pursuant to—

• (a) paragraph (1) prior to the duty holder sending a safety case to the Executive in accordance with regulation 7(1)(b); or

• (b) paragraph (2) prior to the duty holder sending—

• (i) a safety case to the Executive in accordance with regulation 7(1)(b); or

• (ii) revisions to the current safety case to the Executive in accordance with regulation 14(2),

the duty holder shall notify the Executive of that change as soon as practicable.

Safety case for production installation

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• (1) Subject to regulation 27, the operator of a production installation shall ensure that it is not operated within internal waters unless—

• (a) he has prepared a safety case containing the particulars specified in regulation 12 and Schedule 2;

• (b) he has sent the safety case to the Executive at least 6 months (or such shorter period as the Executive may specify) before commencing the operation; and

• (c) the Executive has accepted the safety case.

• (2) For the purposes of paragraph (4) of regulation 2 and paragraph (1), the operation of an installation shall be treated as commenced—

• (a) on the commencement of the first well drilling operation from the installation which may involve the release of petroleum from beneath the bed of internal waters; or

• (b) when petroleum is brought onto the installation for the first time through a pipeline or well,

whichever is earlier.