Analysis of root causes of major hazard precursors (hydrocarbon leaks) in the Norwegian offshore petroleum industry

The offshore petroleum industry in Norway reports major hazard precursors to the authorities, and data are available for the period 1996 through 2009. Barrier data have been reported since 2002, as have data from an extensive questionnaire survey covering working environment, organizational culture and perceived risk among all employees on offshore installations. Several attempts have been made to analyse different data sources in order to discover relations that may cast some light on possible root causes of major hazard precursors. These previous attempts were inconclusive. The study presented in this paper is the most extensive study performed so far. The data were analysed using linear regression. The conclusion is that there are significant correlations between number of leaks and safety climate indicators. The discussion points to possible root causes of major accidents.