Jul 04, 20 the piper alpha disaster which killed 167 workers on 6 july 1988 off the coast of aberdeen is the worldsdeadliest ever oil rig accident. Spiral to disaster piper alpha is a training video that analyzes this industrial tragedy which could have been prevented or averted to improve safety programs. Occidental petroleum, the oil company operator of piper alpha. There were many warnings that all was not well with safety management systems on piper alpha long before the accident. Jun 23, 2010 piper alpha disaster on an oil and gas platform in the north sea, july 1988 background what happened a series of explosions and an oil fed fire on the piper alpha oil and gas platform in the north sea on 6th july 1988, 120 miles northeast of aberdeen, killed 167 men. The change in safety management for offshore oil and gas. The death toll included two crewmen of a rescue vessel. Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea approximately 120 miles 190 km. The piper alpha platform is the largest and oldest platform in the north sea oilfield.
A release of condensate on the piper alpha platform led to a series of explosions and fires. Learning from the piper alpha accident the offshore platform piper alpha, which was lo cated in the british sector of the north sea oil field and operated by occidental petroleum, was engulfed in a catastrophic fire on july 6, 1988. Professionalismpiper alpha oil rig disaster wikibooks. A case study in accident investigation piper alpha. It was last inspected two weeks ago but last week there was a small fire on the rig. The severity of the incident was increased as a result of a failure by other platforms to cease operations. In fact you will rarely here it referred to as an incident as it has, since the day it occurred, been referred to as the piper alpha disaster. Article by fiona macleod ceng ficheme and stephen richardson. Importance learning from major incident piper alpha disaster. Piper alpha atform from the,xlpha forll the all pi.
An explosion and resulting oil and gas fires destroyed piper alpha on 6 july 1988, killing 167 men. It began production in 1976, initially as an oilonly platform but later converted to add gas production. Summary after litigation originating in edinburgh and spanning nine years, the house of lords decision in february this year confirmed an insurers right to seek an indemnity in its insureds name. Piper alpha was a large offshore rig based 100km off the coast of aberdeen. Piper alpha was a large north sea oil platform that started production in 1976. Piper alpha disaster joe meanen, who jumped into the sea from the burning platform, with gary gallagher, who survived a 32ft fall from a hotel roof, to make workplaces safer.
Piper alpha is an offshore oil and gas platform that suffered an explosion in july 1988, which is still regarded as the worst offshore oil disaster in the history of the uk. The specific series of events that turned a simple process safety incident into a disaster began with a decision to change the mode of production on the platform. Pdf it has now been well over 20 years since the north sea piper alpha disaster in 1988. It accounted for around ten per cent of the oil and gas production from north sea at the time. Home year one case studies piper alpha accident tuesday, october, 2015 piper alpha accident the piper alpha was a north sea oil production platform operated by occidental petroleum caledonia ltd.
Part of the problem of trying to examine this event is its complexity. Piper alpha 25 years on have we learned the lessons. A mix of maintenance issues caused management to shift to an alternate mode that was rarely used and which put a higher level of stress 650 psi operating. Less than a year earlier, on 07 september 1987, a contract rigger was killed in an accident on piper alpha. The death toll includes two crewmen of a rescue vessel. Learning from the piper alpha accident semantic scholar. It was caused by a massive fire, which was not the result of an unpredictable act of god but of an accumulation of errors and questionable decisions. On july 6, 1988, in the piper oilfield, north sea, the worlds deadliest offshore oil industry disaster took place. A disaster which could have been, if not totally adverted, dramatically changed in course without the horrible loss of human life. This leads to a second evident paradox in comparing the two disasters. Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea operated by occidental petroleum caledo. It was connected by an oil pipeline to flotta and by gas pipelines to two other installations. Piper alpha prosecutions worth considering, says mp. Jul 05, 20 safety has vastly improved on north sea oil and gas platforms since the deadly explosion on the piper alpha rig 25 years ago, but experts warn there is no room for complacency.
Last three levels particularly impressive, though i thought the route to the blue key in map 6 was a little too well concealed for it to be entirely fair. Two men implicated in the chain of events which ended with the piper alpha oil rig disaster could have been wrongly blamed, according to a bbc television documentary. Piper alpha the house of lords landmark decision gard. Both oil and gas was pumped from the two other platforms to piper alpha and subsequently pumped to shore. Piper alpha tragedy forced improvements in offshore.
Since drilling began in the north sea in the 1970s there have been 300 deaths on britains 123 oil installations, often in. Pipe lift raft on its aunching platform efore h, init. At about 10 pm, a simple miscommunication and safety lapse involving one of the platforms two condensate pumps caused a chain reaction, culminating in a chain reaction of explosions that completely destroyed the entire piper alpha oil rig. Norways petroleum safety authority looks at the 25 anniversary of the piper alpha tragedy this year in the latest issue of its annual status and signals publication. It appears your web browser is not configured to display pdf files. Frank doran, labour mp for aberdeen north, made the comment at the end of a westminster. Prezis director of product marketing on working from home and finding balance. Piper alpha and the cullen report oxford academic journals. Terms and definitions, accimaps, mes, sol and wba peter bernard ladkin 01 june 2012, modified 20 january 20, 21 february 20 introduction from late 2011 until january 20 i have been involved in the attempted international standardisation of an engineering technique known as root cause analysis, or rootcausal analysis. It began production in 1976, 2 initially as an oilonly platform but later converted to add gas production. Download adobe acrobat or click here to download the pdf file.
The cullen inquiry was set up in november 1988 to establish the cause of the disaster. Piper aircraft general aviation aircraft manufacturer. Copyright jim thomson 20 safety in engineering ltd piper. It produced oil from 24 wells and in its early life it had also produced gas from two wells. Jul 05, 20 the 1988 piper alpha tragedy claimed 167 lives after a gas leak caused the oil production platform to explode in a massive ball of flames. In november 1990, it concluded that the initial condensate leak was the result of maintenance work being carried out simultaneously on a pump and related safety valve. The sixtyone survivors of the piper alpha accident survived because they disobeyed the standing instructions. The initial explosion ruptured oil lines on piper alpha and the leaks were fed by the stillpressurized interplatform pipelines.
In 1976 the platform began producing oil then was later converted to add gas production to its capabilities. At the time of the disaster, piper was one of the heaviest platforms along with magnus and brae b. The publication also takes a closer look at other accidents and near misses which have contributed to a. Failure of process safety management on every level. Jul 04, 20 e ven 25 years on, charles haffeys most powerful memory of the piper alpha disaster was the overwhelming, deafening noise. Jul 01, 2018 30th anniversary of the worlds deadliest offshore oil disaster on july 6, 1988, 167 people died in the piper alpha explosion. An explosion and resulting fire destroyed it on 6 jul 1988, killing 168 men, 3 with only 61 survivors. Piper alpha disaster on an oil and gas platform in the. For similar platforms and for a welldefined class of accidents, however, this study is the. The accident killed 165 out of 226 crew members and two crew from the standby vessel sandhaven. Copyright jim thomson 20 safety in engineering ltd piper alpha.
The crew worked to resolve the issue before platform production was affected. Oct 16, 2011 the video clips that it links to catalogue the disaster that occurred on the north sea piper alpha rig on 6th july 1988. The accident highlighted the inadequacies of both the permit to work and the shift handover procedures. This program utilizes a case study of the explosion and fire at the piper alpha oil platform in the north sea which resulted in the loss of 167 lives. Piper alpha platform, north sea offshore technology oil. In all its gruesomeness, piper alpha contributed insights and an understanding of risk to the international industry. May 25, 2014 importance learning from major incident piper alpha disaster 1 comment i t is vital that lessons are learned from all major incidents, as management, cultural and technical failure i.
The investigation into the piper alpha disaster has. It is a fascinating and sobering document that shows, if nothing else, how a combination of apparently individually innocuous failings contributed to a cataclysmic and devastating failure in the management of. Also, the probability of such an accident could be made arbitrarily small by controlling the level of detail in which the accident is described. The controversy around it was heightened when a report. Piper alpha re ceived and sent to the shore the oil and gas production of a group of platforms. This produced a further massive explosion and fireball that engulfed the piper alpha platform. Piper alpha survivors recall disaster 25 years on business. Download limit exceeded you have exceeded your daily download allowance. Pdf the british offshore oil industry after piper alpha. Piper alpha that killed 167 workers in the worlds deadliest offshore oil.
Pdf preventable disasters in the offshore oil industry. The publication also takes a closer look at other accidents and near misses which have contributed to a better grasp of safety from the 1977 ekofisk bravo blowout to the gullfaks c well incident in 2010. A northeast mp suggested yesterday that prosecutions could still be launched over the piper alpha disaster. About piper alpha placed at north sea, the platform began production in 1976, first as an oil platform and then later converted to gas oil production started in 1976 with about 250,000 barrels 40,000 m3 of oil per day increasing to 300,000 barrels 48,000 m3 a gas recovery module. Pdf in 1998, the explosion of the piper alpha platform claimed 167 lives, making it the worlds worst offshore oil disaster. Piper alpha was a large oil production platform in the north sea about 170 kilometers northeast of aberdeen. Jul 15, 20 in the case of piper alpha management, shortcomings emerged in a variety of forms. A good challenge with huge levels and plenty of opposition, a good slogfest though it never becomes slaughterish. The disaster caused the death of 165 men out of 226 on.
Piper alpha was an oil production platform in the north sea approximately 120 miles 190 km northeast of aberdeen, scotland, that was operated by occidental petroleum caledonia limited. Frontline scotland, which will be shown on tuesday night, questions the longheld view that the inferno in july 1988 which claimed the lives of 167 men was sparked by a single. Hero diver fled to australia to escape his piper alpha. The accident that occurred on board the offshore platform piper alpha in july 1988 killed 167 people and cost billions of dollars in property damage. The rig produced oil, gas and condensate primarily propane and was linked to two other drilling platforms via large undersea pipelines. Piper alpha was a north sea oil production platform operated by occidental petroleum caledonia ltd. As shifts changed and the night crew aboard piper alpha assumed duties for the evening, one of the platforms two condensate pumps failed. As is well documented, this disaster took place aboard the north sea oil platform, piper. So other platforms continued production and pumping of gas for sometime which supplied additional fuel to the fire at piper.
Most of them were rooted in the organization, its structure, procedures, and culture. Piper alpha accident the piper alpha was a north sea oil production platform operated by occidental petroleum caledonia ltd. Piper alpha disaster news, views, gossip, pictures, video. Regulationlegislation researchrisk modelling general safety trends.
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