Oil & Gas UK Welcomes EU Offshore Safety Directive

Oil & Gas UK has welcomed the announcement that a plenary vote in the European Parliament will see the introduction of a directive on offshore safety and environment.

Robert Paterson, Oil & Gas UK’s health, safety and employment director, said: “Oil & Gas UK has worked hard to campaign for this directive in place of the European Commission’s original proposition of a Regulation and the very real danger to our workers’ safety that this would have brought.

“In this, the 25th anniversary year of Piper Alpha – which was the world’s worst offshore disaster – we are heartened that the world-class goal-setting regulatory safety regime put in place after the disaster will be protected.

“In addition, we believe the Directive will be the best way to achieve the objective of raising standards across the EU to the high levels already present in the North Sea.

“DECC and HSE will shortly begin transposition of the Directive into UK law. We look forward to working with them to achieve these changes in as seamless a way as possible.”