Piper Alpha at 35 – still highly significant

The major accident of 6 July 1988, when Britain’s Piper Alpha facility caught fire and exploded, remains one of the worst imaginable scenarios for everyone working in and with the petroleum industry. Its lessons are still relevant.

This summer marks the 35th anniversary of the disaster, when 167 people lost their lives. PSA director general Anne Myhrvold believes it remains relevant.

The disaster began to unfold after gas started to leak from a condensate pump. This was shut down for maintenance when an operating problem meant the other pump in the system had to stop.

A failure of communication meant that the control room operator started up the unit being maintained without realising that the work was unfinished. The substantial leak of condensate and gas which resulted caught fire and exploded before anyone managed to intervene.

Two hours after the first explosion, Piper Alpha disintegrated. The bulk of the facility, including the living quarters, sank beneath the waves. One hundred and sixty-five of the 226 people on board when the accident happened died. Another two people were also killed on a support vessel which took part in the rescue operation.

Video: The legacy of Piper Alpha

The 35th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster falls this summer. 167 people lost their lives when this platform in the UK North Sea was destroyed on 6 July 1988.

Reminder

“Although the disaster didn’t happen on the NCS, it’s important for everyone working in this industry regardless of country,” PSA director general Anne Myhrvold observes.

“The accident served as a reminder that we must work constantly to prevent serious incidents, reduce risk and improve safety.”

“The industry fortunately doesn’t have many major accidents to look back on. That makes it all the more important to commemorate Piper Alpha.”

She says this disaster should be remembered both as the human tragedy it was and an example of what a major accident means for the industry and the rest of society.

“We generally take it for granted that everyone comes home from work as healthy and whole as when they left. That’s how it must be. It’s nevertheless important to be reminded that the worst imaginable can actually happen.”

Piper Alpha

The Piper field on the UK continental shelf was discovered in 1973 and came on stream three years later with Occidental Petroleum as its operator. It had been developed with one large production facility on a steel jacket.

This platform was one of the biggest on the UK continental shelf, and at peak produced more than 300 000 barrels of oil per day – or 10 per cent of total British crude output.

No other accident in the offshore petroleum industry so far has cost so many human lives as the blaze which began on Piper Alpha in the late evening of 6 July 1988.

A total of 167 people lost their lives in this major accident.

Lessons

Myhrvold emphasises that Piper Alpha taught the industry many lessons, and believes the accident has had and retains great significance for safety work.

That applies not only on the UK continental shelf but also for the whole industry. Most importantly, the lessons after the accident are still relevant.

“We still see serious incidents, including on the NCS, which expose failings in key areas such as planning, expertise, management and compliance with procedures,” Myhrvold comments.

“It’s important to keep accidents like Piper Alpha in mind in order to check that we have learnt and, not least, that we use what we’ve learnt.”

Although 35 years have now passed, she says it is important that young people entering the industry learn from history and understand the significance of what happened on the platform.

“Risk isn’t something which can be reduced to arithmetic. All of us working in this sector need to be reminded from time to time of what can happen when things go really wrong.”