Regulation of Offshore Health and Safety Obligations of Oil and Gas Industries – the Position in the United Kingdom and Lessons for Nigeria

Offshore health and safety continues to pose challenges, raising issues for diligent consideration for governments and stakeholders involved in offshore oil and gas production around the world, especially as technology improves, driving exploration and production into the depths of dangerous waters. Left in the hands of operators alone to determine, accidents and fatality rates recorded in the history of offshore petroleum production, around the world, and in the UKCS has obviously proved unacceptable, calling for Government intervention through regulations and standards to help protect and preserve the lives of offshore staff. Nigeria is not left out of this risk and the resulting need in its offshore petroleum production. This work seeks to provide solutions to this basic need in Nigeria, by discussing the accidents and risks that exist in the UKCS and how the UK Government, and all other stakeholders have been able to control and manage such risks to arrive at what Gordon describes as 'robust' as seen in Chapters 1 and 3 of this work.